GERMANY'S     VANISHING     COLONIES 


Germany's  Vanishin 
Colonies 


BY 
GORDON    LE    SUEUR 

AUTHOR    Of   "CBCIL    SHOCKS/'   «TC. 


XF-:\V     YORK 
McBRIDE,   NAST   &   COMPANY 


"ICHABOD" 
"Who  sows  the  Wind  will  reap  the  Tempeat." 


2072809 


PREFACE 

By  Lieut-Col.  A.  ST.  H.  GIBBONS.  F.K.G.S.,  F.R.C.I., 
^rd  (Service)  Halt.  Roy.  Fusiliers  (ist  Sportsman's) 

IN  giving  his  readers  a  very  concise  and  reliable 
description  of  "  Germany's  Vanishing  Colonies," 
the  author  performs  a  useful  public  service.  To 
the  travelled  man  who  may  have  seen  something 
of  these  Colonies  the  work  carries  conviction  ;  for 
others  it  has  a  useful  educative  value.  Know- 
ledge is  essential  to  sound  judgment,  and  although 
—thanks  to  the  policy  of  the  late  Paul  Kruger !— 
a  growing  interest  in  our  great  Empire  has 
permeated  all  classes  in  recent  years,  anything 
like  a  comprehensive  knowledge  of  the  local 
conditions  and  interests  of  our  12,000,000  miles 
of  Empire  is  not  to  be  expected  until  our  schools 
and  universities  have  added  to  their  curriculum 
systematic  instruction  in  Imperial  history  and 
geography . 

This  book  provides  important  and  interesting 
data  on  which,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  that  policy 
which  will  determine  the  status  and  ownership 
•f  Germany's  oversea  possession!  can  b«  built. 

7 


8  PREFACE 

To  some  it  may  appear  that  the  title  of  the  book 
implies  the  dividing  of  the  skin  before  the  lion  is 
killed.  Be  that  as  it  may;  to  those  who  have 
never  felt  misgivings  as  to  the  ultimate  result  of 
this  life-and-death  struggle  for  Empire,  the  specu- 
lative element  is  overshadowed  by  the  supreme 
importance  of  inspiring  the  public  mind  with  an 
accurate  and  intelligible  grasp  of  the  situation. 
At  times  consciously,  at  others  unconsciously, 
democratic  Governments  reflect  the  mind  of  the 
community.  In  due  course,  our  statesmen,  work- 
ing in  concert  with  the  Dominion  Governments, 
will  be  called  upon  to  decide,  in  the  name  of  the 
Empire,  how  far  it  is  politic,  either  for  strategic 
or  economic  purposes,  to  annex  all  or  part  of 
such  German  oversea  possessions  as  the  Allies 
in  council  shall  decide  to  be  within  the  British 
sphere  of  influence.  Let  the  people  in  private  and 
public  discussion,  and  through  the  medium  of 
the  Press,  come  to  something  like  an  unanimous 
decision  (and  this  volume  should  help  them  to  do 
so),  and  so  strengthen  the  hands  of  the  Govern- 
ment when  the  crucial  hour  arrives. 

No  doubt  every  aspect  will  be  taken  into  con- 
sideration. It  will  be  noted  that  from  the  moment 
Germany  decided  to  establish  a  colonial  Empire 
her  envious  hatred  of  Great  Britain  took  root.  She 
realised  that  at  the  British  Empire's  expense  alone 
could  she  fully  develop  her  ideal.  This  feeling 
has  grown  and  intensified  until,  in  recent  years, 


PREFACE  9 

she  has  barely  cloaked  her  ambitious  design  to 
replace  us  as  a  world  Power.  When  the  final 

MHV 

word  is  spoken,  and  compensation  for  loss  in  life 
and  treasure  forced  on  us  by  her  unscrupulous 
action  is  discussed,  it  will,  I  think,  be  ruled 
that  we  are  more  than  justified  in  absorbing,  as 
part  payment,  those  possessions  which  she  had 
designed  to  expand  at  the  expense  of  ours. 

Again,  British  and  French  Foreign  Office 
dispatches,  at  the  outbreak  of  war  and  subse- 
quently, go  to  show  that  German  diplomacy  has 
been  deeply  tinged  with  covetousness  and  that 
special  kind  of  hatred  born  of  envy  ;  that  she  has 
brushed  aside  all  honourable  and  humanitarian 
considerations,  and  ignored  that  international 
code  to  which  she  herself  had  set  her  seal  in  favour 
of  a  ruthless  and  unscrupulous  application  of  the 
principle  of  brute  force.  Xor  in  this  case  can 
she  offer  the  "  first  offenders'  "  plea.  Before  the 
Bar  of  History  she  is  confronted  by  Maria  Therese 
and  Francis  Joseph  of  Austria,  by  the  quondam 
Kingdom  of  Poland,  by  Denmark  and  France. 
Each  and  all  give  evidence  of  forced  war  as  a 
step  towards  Prussian  expansion. 

Can  a  nation  so  deeply  impregnated  with  such 
principles  since  its  cradle  days  so  far  reform  its 
political  methods  as  to  give  reasonable  assurance 
that  in  thirty  or  forty  years  hence  she  will  not 
reintroduce  into  the  life  of  nations  that  spirit 
and  practice  of  mediaeval  barbarism  (now  better 


jo  PREPACK 

known  as  '•  kultur  ")  which  at  present  racks  the 
civilised  world?  We  may  leave  it  to  the  Ethi- 
opian and  the  leopard  to  make  reply. 

Popular  opinion  at  present  seems  to  indicate 
an  almost  unanimous  opinion  that  the  roar  of  the 
last  cannon  will  ring  down  the  curtain  on  the 
German  Kmpire  of  to-day.  That  Prussia's  Polish 
province  and  Alsace-Lorraine  will  cease  to  he 
German  may  be  assumed.  Should  Denmark 
recover  Schleswig-Holstein,  should  Hanover  re- 
gain her  independence,  and  Bavaria  repudiate 
Prussia's  uncongenial  overlordship  it  would 
— in  the  event  of  a  non-annexation  policy  being 
adopted — be  difficult  to  decide  to  whom  the 
present  German  Colonies  belong — this,  of  course, 
irrespective  of  conquests  which  have  been  or  may 
be  effected  in  the  meantime,  and  which,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  German  theory  that  "might  is 
right,"  will,  ipso  facto,  have  been  transferred  ti- 
the Allies  with  a  "clean  title." 

History  serves  to  show  that  to  annex  territory 
carrying  a  considerable  homogeneous  and  hostile 
population  is  seldom  a  success,  but  since  the 
German  Colonies  are  so  sparsely  settled — partly 
because  her  bureaucratic  methods  discourage 
immigration,  and  partly  because  she  has  no 
difficulty  in  absorbing  her  surplus  population  at 
home — this  argument  does  not  apply  here. 
Closely  linked  with  this  is  the  native  question. 
Personal  observation,  supported  by  first-hand 


PREFACE  ii 

information,  serves  to  show  that  German  treat- 
ment of  indigenous  populations  is  just  what  might 
be  expected.  To  the  Englishman,  discipline 
implies  leadership — to  the  German,  the  mere 
forcing  of  will,  without  consideration  for  their 
feelings  or  personal  interests,  on  subordinates.  It 
serves  to  crush  out  individuality  and  self-respect. 
It  is  the  discipline  of  "push."  Those  who  have 
travelled  in  Germany  will  have  noticed  how  this 
spirit  permeates  all  ranks  and  classes.  That  its 
application  becomes  more  intense  in  dealing  with 
inferior  races,  where  the  restraints  of  civilisation 
do  not  exist,  will  surprise  no  one.  In  the  Pacific 
Islands,  as  in  their  African  Colonies,  the  same  tale 
is  told.  Their  native  population  would  rejoice  to 
exchange  German  for  British  rule. 

If,  then,  we  are  to  save  the  next  generation  from 
a  second  great  European  upheaval,  and  if  we 
desire  to  emancipate  those  native  races  at  present 
under  German  control  from  a  system  of  harsh  and 
selfish  exploitation,  Germany  in  Europe  must,  by 
the  elimination  of  provinces  detached  from  neigh- 
bouring states  by  previous  wars  of  aggression,  be 
deprived  of  the  power  she  has  so  notoriously 
abused,  and  if  we  are  to  do  our  obvious  duty  by 
the  native  races,  her  Colonies  must  pass  to  other 
hands. 

A.   ST.   H.   GIBBONS. 


Acknowledgment*  are  due  to. 

"  The  Partition  of  Africa."     J.  SCOTT  KELTII. 
"  Modern  Germany."    J.   ELLIS  BARKER. 

"  Stanford's  Compendium  of  Geography." 

A.  H.  KEAXE. 

"  British  and  German  East  Africa."     H.  ERODE. 
"A  Footnote  to  History."     R.  L.  STEVENSON. 
"  In   Near  New  Guinea."     HENRY  NEWTON. 
"  China."     E.  H.  PARKER. 
"  Encyclopedia  Brittanica." 
'The  Journal  of  the  African  Society." 

"  United     Empire " — the     Journal     of     the     Royal 
Colonial    Institute. 

"  Haydn's  Dictionary  of  Dates." 
"  Samoan  Consular  Reports." 
'  Blue  Books  on  Affairs  of  Samoa." 
The  "  Daily  Telegraph." 
"  Germany  and  the  Next  War." 

General  VON  BERNHARDI. 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    I 

CKRMANY   AND    HER    COLONIAL   EXPANSION      .  17 

CHAPTER    II 

SOUTH    WKST   AFRICA        .  36 

CHAPTER     III 

EAST   AFRICA  .....  84 

CHAPTER   IV 

TOGOI.AND    AND    KAMKRL'N  .  .         TOQ 

CHAPTER    V 

THE    PACIFIC    ISLANDS       .  -1*4 

CHAPTER    VI 

KIAU-CHAT  .  .  IJ« 


GERMANY'S  VANISHING 
COLONIES 

CHAPTER    I 

GERMANY    AND     HER    COLONIAL    EXPANSION 

THE  German  Empire  of  to-day  may  best  be 
described  as  an  enlarged  and  aggrandised  Prussia ; 
its  people  imbued  with  Prussian  ideals  and  drawing 
their  aspirations  from  the  fountain  of  Prussia. 

In  the  Confederation  of  the  German  States 
as  constituted  in  1814,  Prussia,  under  the 
Hohenzollern  Dynasty,  was  always  the  turbulent 
and  disturbing  element,  by  methods  peculiarly 
Prussian,  working  towards  a  unity  of  the  German 
states — a  comity  of  nations  welded  into  one  under 
the  hegemony  of  Prussia. 

It  was  not  long  before  Prussian  domination 
became  irksome,  and  her  provocative  and  arrogant 
attitude  created  a  war  with  Denmark  in  1864  and 
with  Austria  in  1866 — the  latter,  a  struggle  between 
Hohenzollern  and  Hapsburg,  culminating  in  the 
complete  discomfiture  of  Austria. 

17  B 


i8      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

The  war  with  Denmark  gave  Germany  th« 
harbour  of  Kiel,  together  with  the  million  inhabi- 
tants of  Schleswig-Holstein,  and  Prussia  emerged 
from  the  struggle  with  Austria  the  leading  Power 
in  the  new  North  German  Confederation. 

Since  then  the  salt  of  Prussian  militarism  has 
been  ploughed  into  the  fertile  German  fields  which 
produced  some  of  the  master-minds  in  the  worlds 
of  Thought,  Philosophy  and  Literature. 

In  accord  with  true  Prussian  methods  France 
was  forced  into  a  declaration  of  war  in  1870,  with 
the  result  that  the  German  octopus  settled  ita 
tentacles  upon  the  provinces  of  Alsace  and  Lorraine, 
an  area  of  5,605  square  miles,  with  1,500,000 
inhabitants. 

A  new  phase  of  Empire  was  then  created,  and 
the  Germany  of  to-day  was  constituted  as  prac- 
tically a  new  nation  under  the  rule  of  William  of 
Hohenzollern,  who  was  elected  the  "  Deutscher 
Kaiser,"  or  German  Emperor,  at  Versailles  on 
i8th  January,  1871  . 

Prince  Otto  von  Bismarck  became  the  first 
Chancellor  of  the  new  German  Empire,  and  in  his 
hands  the  fortunes  of  the  House  of  Hohenzollern 
prospered,  as  he  set  himself  to  his  fixed  and  single- 
minded  purpose — that  was,  to  elevate  Prussia  to 
the  foremost  place  amongst  the  continental  Powers. 

Bismarck's  policy  was  directed  towards  exten- 
sion, but  it  was  extension  of  Prussia  (or  Germany) 
in  Europe  and  the  consolidation  of  the  portions 


COLONIAL   EXPANSION  19 

added  to  the  German  Empire.  In  1871  he  declared 
"  Germany  does  not  want  Colonies."  He  refused 
to  embark  upon  dazzling  adventures  in  which  the 
risk  stirred  the  imagination,  and  when  an  agitation 
arose  in  favour  of  making  Germany  a  sea  Power, 
he  confronted  it  with  the  words  of  Frederick  the 
Great:  "  All  far-off  acquisitions  are  a  burden  to  the 
State."  This  view  he  held  until  the  last  decade  of 
his  career. 

Bismarck  looked  forward,  however,  to  the  ger- 
manisation  of  the  Low  Countries,  the  absorption 
of  which  Cecil  Rhodes  declared  to  the  German 
Emperor  he  believed  to  be  the  destiny  of  Germany. 

The  spirit  of  Prussia  was  even  instilled  into 
Austria,  and  Prussian  example  was  emulated  by 
the  House  of  Hapsburg. 

As  Prussia  set  herself  to  the  repression  of 
Danish  nationality  in  Schleswig-Holstein  and  of 
French  in  Alsace-Lorraine,  so  Austria  adopted  a 
policy  of  eradicating  national  traits  in  Hungary. 

The  national  unity  aimed  at  by  Bismarck  having 
been  established,  Germany  continued  to  thrive  and 
grow  during  the  peaceful  years  following  1871  ; 
and  the  development  of  the  trade  of  this  infant 
amongst  nations  is  a  world's  phenomenon. 

Yet  as  with  Prussia  in  the  past,  so  with  the 
greater  Germany  of  to-day,  history  is  a  tale  of  one 
persistent  struggle  for  possessions. 

As  is  natural  during  times  of  peace,  the  popul*- 
tion  of  Germain  increased  at  an  enormous  rat*, 


20      GERMANY'S   VANISH  NG   COLONIES 

growing  from  35,500,000  in  1850  to  66,000,000  in 
1912 — an  average  of  about  615,000  per  annum- 
while  the  present  increase  is  roughly  900,000  per 
annum. 

Between  the  years  1881  and  1890  German  emigra- 
tion amounted  to  130,000  annually;  but  it  was  only 
18,500  in  1913,  and  this  was  more  than  counter- 
balanced by  immigration  from  Austria,  Russia, 
and  Italy. 

Over-population  soon  became  a  pressing  ques- 
tion, and  the  obvious  remedy  was  expansion  of 
frontiers  or  new  territories  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  surplus. 

German  policy  in  a  very  few  years  became 
directed  towards  extension  of  territories,  for  it  was 
apparent  that  emigration  to  foreign  countries  and 
dependencies  only  strengthened  other  nations. 

An  outlet  for  the  surplus  population  was 
required ;  but  in  view  of  the  need  for  men  to  feed 
the  military  machine  which  had  founded  the  Ger- 
man Empire  and  upon  which  its  strength  depended, 
it  was  clear  that  emigration  to  foreign  countries 
and  dependencies  was  an  inexpedient  measure  of 
relief,  as  it  would  be  applied  at  the  expense  of  the 
mother  country. 

In  the  year  1882  the  German  Colonisation  Society 
was  started,  with  the  object  of  acquiring  Colonies 
oversea  and  the  establishment  of  a  navy  and  mer- 
cantile marine  to  form  the  link  binding  the  isolated 
territories  to  the  motherland. 


COLONIAL    EXPANSION  ai 

The  society  was  formed  by  merchants  and  traders 
with  the  end  in  view  of  extending  trade ;  but  to  the 
militarist  section  the  idea  of  Imperial  expansion 
presented  itself,  and  to  that  party  the  Colonies 
appealed  rather  from  a  strategical  than  a  commer- 
cial standpoint. 

The  society  received  enthusiastic  support,  and, 
indeed,  all  Germany  began  to  look  to  Colonies 
which  were  to  be  purely  German ;  and  with  this 
enlarged  horizon,  policy  settled  down  to  the  acqui- 
sition of  oversea  territory,  the  ambition  being 
naturally  accompanied  by  an  aspiration  towards 
a  powerful  navy,  necessary,  ostensibly,  to  keep 
communications  open. 

The  German  Emperor  held  very  determined 
ideas  on  the  subject  of  expansion,  but  the  Chan- 
cellor, Bismarck,  altered  his  views  only  so  far  as 
to  approve  of  the  founding  of  Trade  Colonies  under 
Imperial  Protection. 

Bismarck  was  loth  to  weaken  his  military 
machine  by  the  emigration  of  men  ;  and  the  German 
ideal  of  colonisation  was  not,  therefore,  a  policy  of 
settlement  but  one  of  commercial  exploitation ;  in- 
asmuch as  Germany's  aim  was  to  develop  home 
industries  in  order  to  keep  in  employment  at 
home  the  men  who  formed  the  material  of  her 
armour. 

Germans  were  required  to  remain  Germans;  and 
this  object  it  was  hoped  to  attain  by  settlements 
in  German  Colonies,  where  compact  centres  of 


22      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

German  kultur  could  be  established  to  teach  the 
art  of  order  to  the  remaining  peopled  kingdoms. 

The  German  view  being  that  the  British  over- 
sea Empire  was  acquired  "  by  treachery,  violence 
and  fomenting  strife,"  one  cannot  imagine, 
especially  with  her  Prussian  traditions,  a  violent 
disturbance  of  the  "  good  German  conscience  "  in 
contemplating  means  of  attaining  an  object. 

In  the  first  Prussian  Parliament  Bismarck  thun- 
dered out  "  Let  all  questions  to  the  King's 
Ministers  be  answered  by  a  roll  of  drums,"  and, 
in  sneering  at  the  ballot  as  "  a  mere  dice-box," 
he  declared:  "It  is  not  by  speechifying  and 
majorities  that  the  great  questions  of  the  day  will 
have  to  be  decided,  but  by  blood  and  iron.11 

Prussia  had  fought  for  and  won  her  predomin- 
ance ;  her  greatness  was  acquired  by  the  sword ; 
and  the  Bismarck  cult  has  prevailed  in  that  no  other 
means  of  expansion  and  nationalisation  than  by 
conquest  presents  itself  to  the  German  mind.  All 
negotiations  with  foreign  nations,  therefore,  have 
been  conducted  to  the  accompaniment  of  the  rattle 
of  the  sword  in  the  scabbard. 

Speaking  of  Colonies  in  his  recent  bombastic 
book,  General  von  Bernhardi  said:  "The  great 
Elector  laid  the  foundation  of  Prussia's  power  by 
successful  and  deliberately  planned  wars";  and 
in  justifying  the  right  to  make  war  he  says  :  "It 
may  be  that  a  growing  people  cannot  win  Colonies 
from  uncivilised  races,  and  yet  the  State  wishes 


COLONIAL    EXPANSION  23 

to  retain  the  surplus  population  which  the  mother 
country  can  no  longer  feed.  Then  the  only  course 
left  is  to  acquire  the  necessary  territory  by  war." 

Germany  now  proposed  to  tread  the  same  path 
as  England,  but  she  had  arrived  late  in  the  day 
and  the  methods  whereby  she  purposed  making 
up  for  lost  time  were  not  the  methods  whereby 
England  had  established  herself. 

Behind  German  colonisation  lies  no  record  of 
great  accomplishments  inspired  by  lofty  ideals  and 
high  aspirations,  carried  into  effect  by  noble  self- 
sacrifice  on  the  part  of  her  sons;  the  history  con- 
jures up  no  pageant  of  romantic  emprise  nor  vista 
of  perilous  undertakings  in  unexplored  parts  of 
the  globe  by  the  spirits  of  daring  and  adventure; 
it  holds  no  pulse-stirring  stories  of  the  blazing  of 
new  trails;  and  scattered  over  its  pages  we  do  not 
find  imprints  of  the  steps  of  pioneers  of  true  civilis- 
ation, nor  are  its  leaves  earmarked  with  splendid 
memories. 

Where  England  gave  of  the  best  of  her  manhood 
to  establish  in  daughter  states  in  the  four  quarters 
of  the  globe  her  ideals  of  freedom,  justice,  and  fair 
commerce — that  manhood  whose  inspiration  and 
incentive  was  their  country's  honour,  but  whose 
guerdon  was  in  many  a  case  a  lonely  grave  or 
a  more  imposing  monument  in  the  "  sun-washed 
spaces" — the  ambassadors  of  German  kultur  fol- 
lowed upon  a  beaten  track  to  seize  at  the  opportune 
moment  the  material  benefit  of  the  crop  where 


24      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

the  others  had  ploughed  with  the  expenditure  of 
their  physical  energy,  sown  with  the  seeds  of  their 
intellect,  and  fertilised  with  their  blood. 

Casting  about  between  1882  and  1884  for  territory 
over  which  to  hoist  her  flag,  Germany  found  that 
nearly  the  whole  of  the  world  was  occupied;  and 
direct  action  of  conquest  not  being  expedient,  Ger- 
mans were  busy  seeking  to  accomplish  their  aims 
by  secret  methods  of  intrigue,  always  accompanied 
by  deprecation  of  the  infringement  of  the  vested 
rights  of  others. 

Active  steps  for  the  acquisition  of  territory  began 
to  be  taken  in  1884. 

Under  pretext  of  being  interested  in  the  suppres- 
sion of  the  slave  trade,  Germany  concerned  herself 
in  the  affairs  of  Zanzibar,  long  subject  to  the 
influence  of  the  Portuguese  and  British ;  but 
Germany  later  abandoned  her  ambitions  in  the 
island  on  the  cession  of  Heligoland. 

Africa  was  the  one  continent  which  had  not 
been  partitioned,  and  Germany's  quest  of  territory 
brought  about  the  "  scramble  for  Africa." 

Germany  had  annexed  portions  of  the  west  coast 
(Togoland  and  Kamerun),  and  the  vacillating 
policy  of  the  British  Government  during  1882- 
1883  enabled  the  Germans  to  annex  an  enormous 
tract  of  territory  north  of  the  Orange  River, 
which  became  known  as  German  South  West 
Africa. 

Altogether    the    German     Colonies     in     Africa 


COLONIAL    EXPANSION  25 

acquired  in  1884  amounted  to  over  1,000,000  square 
miles. 

By  what  is  known  as  the  "  Caprivi  Treaty  "  of 
the  ist  July,  1890,  Great  Britain  and  Germany 
agreed  as  to  their  respective  "  spheres  of  influence  " 
in  Africa. 

Great  Britain  assumed  protection  over  the  Island 
of  Zanzibar,  and  ceded  to  Germany  in  exchange 
the  Island  of  Heligoland. 

This  exchange  was  regarded  in  Germany  gener- 
ally as  a  most  disadvantageous  one ;  but  the  posses- 
sion of  Heligoland  as  a  fortress  was  of  inestimable 
value  to  Germany — making  possible  the  Borkum- 
Wilhelmshaven  -  Heligoland  -  Brunsmittel  naval 
position,  and  the  German  militarist  section  craved 
it  in  order  to  forestall  France. 

The  territory  of  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  on  the 
mainland  of  Africa  was  ceded  to  Germany,  with  the 
harbour  of  Dar-es-Salaam  ;  and  the  boundaries  were 
so  delimited  as  to  include  in  German  East  Africa 
the  mountain  of  Kilima  'Njaro,  the  German 
Emperor  being  supposed  to  have  expressed  a  wish 
to  possess  the  highest  mountain  in  Africa  as  a 
mere  matter  of  sentiment. 

The  Caprivi  Treaty  also  defined  the  boundaries 
of  South  West  Africa. 

In  1884  Germany  had  also  busied  herself  in  the 
Pacific,  and  had  hoisted  her  flag  on  several  islands 
as  well  as  in  North  New  Guinea,  where  the  Austra- 
lasian Colonies  had  established  settlements  and 


26      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

vainly  urged  annexation  on  the  British  Govern- 
ment. 

In  1885  the  sum  of  180,000  marks  was  voted  by 
the  Reichstag  "  for  the  protection  "  of  these  new 
German  Colonies. 

The  opening  of  1891  saw  Germany  with  ample 
territory  oversea  to  accommodate  surplus  popula- 
tion;  while  we,  secure  in  our  own  strength,  with 
amused  tolerance,  allowed  her  to  climb  to  "  her 
place  in  the  sun." 

It  was  not  the  intention  of  Germany,  however, 
to  use  the  Colonies  as  dumping  grounds,  nor  to 
encourage  a  policy  of  emigration — but  rather  to 
exploit  them  as  supports  for  home  industry. 

Many  German  industries  depend  upon  foreign 
countries  for  the  import  of  a  continual  supply  of  raw 
material  which  cannot  be  produced  in  Germany ; 
while  part  of  their  necessaries  are  even  obtained 
from  abroad.  They  also  depend  to  a  considerable 
extent  upon  foreign  countries  for  the  sale  of  manu- 
factures. 

Their  prosperity  depends  upon  import  and  export 
trade;  for  while  the  home  industries  provide  work 
for  masses  of  the  population,  all  the  products  cannot 
be  consumed  at  home  and  markets  have  to  be  found 
elsewhere  if  employment  is  to  continue. 

It  can  never  be  said  to  be  an  economic  interest 
to  encourage  the  establishment  of  industries  in 
Colonies — at  least  not  manufactories  of  articles 
made  at  home. 


COLONIAL   EXPANSION  27 

The  establishment  of  such  may  be  of  interest  to 
provide  work  for  those  who  emigrate ;  but  from  the 
point  of  view  of  countries  like  Germany,  whose 
existence  depends  on  keeping  their  men  at  home, 
it  is  far  preferable  to  develop  every  possible  industry 
at  home,  and  retain  the  Colonies  only  as  markets 
and  producers  of  raw  material. 

This  Germany  proceeded  to  do.  Developing 
Colonial  trade,  she  extended  her  home  industries. 
During  eight  years  her  Colonial  trade  rose  from 
scarcely  ,£5,000,000  to  ^12,000,000,  and  the  effect 
of  the  acquisition  of  Colonies  upon  her  home  in- 
dustries is  marked  in  the  fact  that  she  employed 
in  those  industries  1 1 ,300,000  men  in  1907  as 
against  6,400,000  in  1882. 

Germany,  moreover,  protects  even  her  agriculture 
against  the  competition  of  her  own  Colonies — shut- 
ting out  their  meat  and  their  grain. 

Germany's  conception  of  the  idea  of  Colonies, 
therefore,  was  to  build  up  overseas  a  new  Germany 
composed  of  daughter  states,  which  would  remain 
essentially  German  and  be  the  means  of  keeping 
her  men  at  home  in  remunerative  employment  by 
providing  raw  material  for  the  development  of  her 
industries. 

A  continental  nation,  surrounded  by  powerful 
neighbours,  it  seemed  in  her  case  a  suicidal  policy 
to  scatter  her  population  abroad ;  and  therefore 
she  exploited  her  Colonies  in  such  a  way  as  to  help 
her  to  concentrate  her  people  at  home,  where  she 


28      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

required  men  in  time  of  peace  for  economic  develop- 
ment and  in  time  of  war  for  defence — and  offence. 

As  a  natural  sequence  to  the  responsibility  of 
oversea  dominions,  it  becomes  a  question  of  life 
and  death  to  keep  open  the  oversea  commerce  pro- 
tected by  a  powerful  navy ;  and  this  point  was 
strongly  urged  by  the  National  Party  which, 
advocating  colonisation,  arose  in  Germany  in 
1892. 

But  with  the  growth  of  Germany's  oversea  trade 
and  her  navy,  a  new  and  splendid  vista  unfolded 
itself — no  less  than  Germany,  from  her  place  in  the 
sun,  mistress  of  the  world. 

To  quote  von  Bernhardi :  "  The  German  nation, 
from  the  standpoint  of  its  importance  to  civilisa- 
tion, is  fully  entitled  not  only  to  demand  a  place  in 
the  sun,  but  to  aspire  to  an  adequate  share  in  the 
sovereignty  of  the  world  far  beyond  the  limits  of 
its  present  sphere  of  influence." 

Von  Treitschke,  the  neurotic  German  historian 
and  poet,  again  "  incessantly  points  his  nation 
towards  the  war  with  England,  to  the  destruction 
of  England's  supremacy  at  sea  as  the  means  by 
which  Germany  is  to  burst  into  that  path  of  glory 
and  of  world  dominion."* 

"  Treitschke  dreamed  of  a  greater  Germany  to 
come  into  being  after  England  had  been  crushed 
on  the  sea."f 

*"  Modern  Germany,"  by  J.   Ellis  Barker. 
t  Ibid 


COLONIAL    EXPANSION  29 

To  obtain  their  object  no  other  means  presented 
itself  than  the  Prussian  militarist  method. 

Bismarck's  object — the  goal  towards  which  he 
strove,  to  so  amply  secure  the  position  in  Europe 
that  it  could  never  be  questioned — seemed  to  have 
been  attained  by  the  machine  of  militarism,  the 
huge  army  created  and  kept  in  being  by  national 
self-sacrifice.  So  to  obtain  what  was  now  aimed 
at,  the  instrument  was  to  be  an  invincible  fleet  which 
would  in  defiance  of  everyone  keep  sea  communi- 
cations open. 

As  early  as  1896  the  "  world  Power  "  idea  had 
evolved,  and  at  the  celebration  in  that  year  of  the 
twenty-fifth  anniversary  of  the  foundation  of  the 
German  Empire,  the  Emperor  termed  it  a  "  world 
Empire." 

On  the  question  of  the  rights  of  others  the 
German  Emperor  was  at  all  events  satisfied,  for  he 
announced  to  the  German  Socialists:  "  We  Hohen- 
zollerns  take  our  crown  from  God  alone,  and  to 
God  alone  we  are  responsible,"  which  leaves 
nothing  more  to  be  said  on  that  point. 

To  German  minds  the  domination  of  the  world 
was  a  very  real  ambition  and  quite  in  accord  with 
the  best  Prussian  traditions. 

In  1905  the-  German  Emperor  visited  Tangier  to 
impress  upon  a  cynical  brother  Empeior  the  right 
to  a  place  in  Moroccan  affairs;  while  in  1911 
German  diplomacy  asserted  that  Germany  wras 
anxious  to  preserve  the  independence  and  integrity 


30 

of  Morocco  because  of  her  important  interests  in 
the  country.*  As  a  matter  of  fact,  German  trade 
had  steadily  lost  ground  in  Morocco  and  "  in  1909 

was  exactly  equal  to  _L_th  or  one-fifteenth  part  of 

1500 

one  single  per  cent  of  her  whole  foreign  trade."* 

Anent  the  Agadir  crisis  in  1911,  Von  Bernhardi 
naively  admits  that  it  was  "  only  the  fear  of  the 
intervention  of  England  that  deterred  us  from 
claiming  a  sphere  of  interests  of  our  own  in 
Morocco." 

The  "  sphere  of  interests  "  in  Morocco  consisted 
in  coveting  Agadir,  the  best  harbour  on  the  Atlantic 
coast  of  Morocco,  which  would  have  been  of  enor- 
mous importance  to  Germany  and  her  Colonies 
because  ordinarily  the  German  fleet  would  be  tied 
to  the  North  Sea  for  want  of  coaling  stations. 

During  Great  Britain's  time  of  stress  with  the 
South  African  Republics,  in  the  same  way  Baron 
Marshall  von  Bieberstein  declared  officially  that 
"  the  continued  independence  of  the  Boer  Republics 
was  a  German  interest." 

The  interest  of  Germany,  apart  from  the  un- 
doubted hope  of  making  the  Republics  German 
Colonies,  it  might  simply  be  remarked,  was  that 
Germany  had  in  contemplation-  the  construction  of 
a  railway  line  from  Pretoria  to  Santa  Lucia  Bay  on 
the  east  coast,  800  miles  nearer  Europe  than  the 
port  of  Cape  Town. 

German  history  holds  no  record  of  the  integrity 
*"  Modem  Germany,"  by  J.  Ellis  Barker. 


COLONIAL    EXPANSION  31 

or  independence  of  her  neighbours  being  either  of 
German  interest  or  concern,  and  her  attitude  is  in 
accord  with  her  principle  of  concealing  her  real 
intention  by  adopting  a  spirit  of  deprecation. 

This  is  amply  exemplified  in  the  German 
Emperor's  letter  to  Lord  Tweedmouth  of  I4th 
February,  1908,  stigmatising  as  "  nonsensical  and 
untrue  "  the  idea  that  the  German  fleet  was  being 
built  for  any  other  purpose  "  than  her  needs  in 
relation  with  her  rapidly  growing  trade." 

The  real  obstacle  to  realisation  of  the  great 
German  dream  was  British  naval  supremacy ;  and 
all  German  thought  and  energy  was  devoted  to  the 
construction  of  a  navy  strong  enough  to  challenge 
that  supremacy.  When  she  could  do  that  it  was 
within  the  bounds  of  possibility  that  Germany 
would  indeed  be  the  world  Power. 

Roughly,  the  German  Colonial  Empire  is  five 
times  as  big  as  Germany,  with  a  population  of 
about  14,000,000  natives;  and  the  question  of 
German  Colonial  policy  is  a  question  of  native 
policy. 

It  is  in  Germany's  interest  that  the  natives  should 
be  as  numerous  as  possible,  for  it  is  their  labour, 
intelligence,  and  industry  that  makes  the  Colonial 
Empire  useful  and  necessary  to  Germany. 

Individual  settlers  are  not  encouraged  to 
emigrate,  but  the  plantations,  ranches,  etc.,  whence 
Germany  drew  her  supplies  of  raw  material  such 
as  cotton,  rubber,  wool,  etc.,  are  developed  by 


32      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

chartered  companies  and  trading  firms,  and  the 
so-called  settlers  are  the  managers  of  these. 

Independent  German  farmers  in  her  Colonies  are 
few  and  far  between,  and  the  settlements  which 
were  to  be  centres  of  German  kultur  have  not 
eventuated.  A  new  Germany  has  not  been  created 
oversea. 

There  was,  moreover,  no  room  in  German 
Colonial  expansion  for  individualism,  which  has 
proved  such  a  strength  to  England  but  was 
suppressed  in  Germany.  The  individual  German 
is  not  given  scope  but  subordinated  to  a  system. 

The  truth  seems  to  be  that  Germany  had  not  got 
the  class  of  men  she  required  for  her  scheme  of 
Colonial  development — or  exploitation  seems  the 
better  word. 

Germany's  requirements  were  lands  for  growing 
raw  material  by  native  labour,  and  markets  from 
which  she  could  not  be  excluded — and  she  thought 
she  had  found  them  in  her  Colonies. 

The  Colonies  cried  out  for  European  enterprise 
and  European  capital,  but  they  did  not  want  in- 
dividual settlers. 

Under  British  rule  the  German  has  proved  a  most 
desirable  Colonist,  but  he  has  never  thriven  under 
his  own  Colonial  administration. 

He  is  by  nature  extremely  assimilative,  and  in 
our  Colonies  he  prospers,  not  only  competing  with 
but  outstripping  the  British  trader  owing  to  the 
employment  of  undercutting  methods  which  do  not 


COLONIAL    EXPANSION  33 

so  readily  occur  to  the  British  mind,  hampered  as 
it  usually  is  by  a  sense  of  fair  play. 

In  the  eastern  province  of  the  Colony  of  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  the  members  of  the  Ger- 
man Legion  who  settled  after  disbandment  about 
King  William's  Town,  Hanover,  Stutterheim, 
etc.,  have  developed  into  prosperous  farmers  and 
merchants. 

A  sandy  waste  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Cape 
Town,  once  thought  to  be  worthless,  was  subdivided 
and  taken  up  almost  entirely  by  Germans,  and  they 
have  turned  the  land  into  one  of  the  most  pro- 
ductive portions  of  the  Cape  Peninsula. 

In  America  the  German  immigrants  have 
readily  assimilated,  though  in  Brazil  they  have 
formed  separate  centres. 

In  the  German  Colonies  a  set-back  to  develop- 
ment has  been  the  fact  that  they  have  never  realised 
the  importance  of  respecting  local  manners  and 
customs,  but  the  home  machinery  has  been  applied 
in  every  particular  to  conditions  wholly  dissimilar 
and  unsuitable. 

In  South  West  Africa,  for  instance,  Dr  Bonn 
of  Munich  says  they  "  solved  the  native  problem 
by  smashing  tribal  life." 

Being  trained  and  accustomed  to  obey,  more- 
over, the  German  cannot  act  without  orders,  and 
lacks  initiative  and  therefore  administrative  ability. 

Compulsory  military  service  has  been  instituted, 
and  the  German  Colonial  administration  is  cordially 


$4      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

detested  except  where  perhaps  it  favours  ill-treat- 
ment and  oppression  of  natives. 

Where  the  British  have  evolved  a  system  of 
government  which  is  a  comity  of  commonwealths 
within  a  monarchy,  and  hold  their  dependencies 
by  the  sense  of  honour  and  appreciation,  to  which 
the  attitude  of  South  Africa  bears  splendid  witness, 
the  German's  grip  was  by  the  claws  of  militarism 
and  terrorism. 

Under  the  circumstances  it  is  perhaps  not  sur- 
prising that  the  Germans  should  fall  into  the  error 
that  the  British  dependencies  would  embrace  an 
opportunity  of  "  throwing  off  the  British  yoke  "; 
and  the  assumed  disloyalty  of  British  Colonies, 
with  the  further  assumption,  widely  distributed, 
that  various  peoples  under  the  British  flag  were 
capable  of  being  tampered  with  easily,  may  well 
have  been  one  of  the  most  cogent  theories  leading 
the  German  Emperor  and  his  advisers  to  their 
fateful  decision. 

With  the  extraordinary  aptitude  of  the  Germans 
for  intrigue,  perhaps  the  war  Lords  were  not  alto- 
gether foolish  in  their  conclusions. 

There  was  a  chance  of  seduction,  especially  with 
native  races  in  Africa,  but  it  was  a  very  small 
chance,  and,  like  many  another  well-laid  scheme, 
this  one  failed  because  its  authors  did  not  under- 
stand the  material  which  was  to  be  used  to  work  it. 

It  failed  in  Africa  because  the  African  is  more 
than  the  beast  of  burden  the.  German,  Colonists 


COLONIAL    EXPANSION  35 

schooled  and  deluded  themselves  into  thinking. 
They  did  not  understand  the  native;  and,  in  a 
word,  the  native  hates  the  German,  especially  the 
officials. 

Their  methods  of  colonisation  have  good  points 
in  matter  of  detail,  routine  work,  etc.;  but  if 
colonisation  be  regarded  as  something  more  than 
the  exploitation  of  a  subject  race  and  the  passive 
holding  of  its  territory,  they  must  be  written  down 
a  failure,  for  the  extraordinary  efficiency  of  the 
administrative  machinery  falls  far  short  of  com- 
pensating for  the  rottenness  of  the  policy  behind  it. 

A  nation  in  whom  a  much-vaunted  kultur  has 
produced  an  ideal  of  national  life  whose  highest 
expression  is  the  atmosphere  of  a  penal  settlement, 
is  foredoomed  to  failure  as  a  coloniser. 


CHAPTER    II 

SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA 

EVER  since  her  acquisition  of  the  Colony  of  the 
Cape  of  Good  Hope,  vitally  important  to  her  in 
view  of  her  interests  in  the  East,  Great  Britain  had 
been  unquestionably  the  supreme  Power  in  the 
south  of  the  African  Continent. 

With  the  passing  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Com- 
pany, Holland  had  ceased  to  be  a  South  African 
Power;  while  the  Portuguese  had  lost  their  status. 
The  latter  in  reality  only  held  an  area  along  the 
coast  of  her  possessions,  a  great  proportion  of  the 
interior,  which  undoubtedly  had  once  been  bene- 
ficially occupied  by  Portuguese,  having  reverted  to 
savagedom. 

The  southern  point  of  Portuguese  South  East 
Africa  extended  to  and  included  Delagoa  Bay  and 
Lourenpo  Marquez,  while  the  southern  boundary  of 
their  western  Colony  was  about  the  22°  S. 

From  the  days  of  its  earliest  history  the  Cape 
Colony  was  subject  to  attacks  by  natives,  and  the 
constant  raids  by  hordes  of  Kafirs  caused  the 

36 


THE  GERMAN  COLONIES  IN  AFRICA,  1914. 
(Reproduced  by  permission  of  The  Times.) 


39 

Colony  to  extend  its  borders  and  absorb  and  settle 
the  Hinterland. 

Up  to  1883  the  natural  course  of  beneficial  occu- 
pation and  development  had  been  towards  the  east 
and  north-east  borders,  over  the  more  fertile  and 
naturally  resourceful  portions  of  the  country,  rather 
than  west  and  north-west,  where  a  comparatively 
arid  zone  intervened. 

Towards  the  Orange  and  Vaal  Rivers  the  hardi- 
est race  of  pioneers  the  world  has  ever  seen, 
the  "  Voor-trekking "  Boers,  pressed  onwards  to 
escape  from  subjection  to  any  form  of  govern- 
ment excepting  their  own  patriarchal  control.  Their 
story  hardly  comes  within  the  scope  of  this  modest 
work;  but  it  is  indissolubly  connected  with  the 
making  of  South  Africa,  and  a  brief  sketch  of  their 
history  may  be  permissible. 

The  exodus  of  the  Boers,  who  were  composed  of 
farmers  of  not  only  Dutch  but  French  and  English 
origin,  commenced  with  the  Great  Trek  of  1836, 
and  they  spread  out  ever  seeking  freedom  from 
restraint.  They  came  into  collision  with  the  Zulus 
under  Dingaan,  by  whom  a  number  of  them  were 
treacherously  massacred,  but  whom  they  finally 
severely  defeated  and  Dingaan  fled. 

Dissensions  arose  amongst  the  Boers  shortly 
after,  and  a  number  trekked  on  and  established  a 
separate  settlement,  with  Potchefstroom  as  capital. 
Those  who  remained  occupied  Natal  and  established 
a  Republic. 


40      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

Here,  however,  they  did  not  find  peace,  for  Sir 
George  Napier,  in  command  of  the  British  forces 
at  the  Cape,  dispatched  a  contingent  to  drive  them 
out.  This  contingent  the  Boers  nearly  annihilated. 

A  settler,  Dick  King,  then  made  his  memorable 
ride  from  Durban  to  Grahamstown,  covering  the 
distance  of  375  miles  in  nine  days,  and  rein- 
forcements were  sent  up. 

Natal  was,  in  1843,  declared  to  be  a  British 
Colony,  with  the  result  that  a  fresh  exodus  of  Boers 
occurred  across  the  Drakensberg  Mountains  into 
Griqualand. 

For  forty  years  the  Boers  wandered,  but  where- 
ever  they  tried  to  settle  they  were  pressed  on — being 
continually  told  that  they  could  not  shake  off  their 
allegiance,  although  no  step  was  taken  to  reclaim 
them  or  the  country  they  won. 

So  far  from  receiving  protection  fiom  the  Cape 
Government,  the  latter  even  armed  the  Griquas 
against  the  Boers,  and  sent  a  military  force  to 
the  assistance  of  the  natives.  And  so  they  were 
harried  until  they  were  allowed  to  establish  their 
Republics  of  the  Transvaal  and  Free  State,  until 
overtaken  by  the  destiny  which  Providence  had 
marked  out  for  them. 

In  1 88 1  an  attempt  was  made  by  Great  Britain 
to  annex  the  Transvaal,  but  after  General  Colley's 
defeat  and  death  at  Majuba  the  independence  of  the 
Transvaal  was  acknowledged  under  British  suzer- 
ainty. 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  41 

The  western  border  of  the  Transvaal  Republic 
marched  on  Bechuanaland  and  the  Kalahari  Desert, 
and  in  1882  the  Transvaal  completed  a  convention 
with  the  Portuguese  Government  under  which  the 
former  was  granted  a  concession  to  build  a  railway 
from  the  capital,  Pretoria,  to  Delagoa  Bay  on  the 
east  coast. 

The  delimited  boundary  of  the  Cape  Colony  was 
the  Orange  River,  but  as  early  as  1793  a  Dutch 
expedition  from  the  Cape  took  possession  of  Wal- 
fisch  Bay,  Angra  Pequena,  as  well  as  Possession, 
Ichaboe,  and  other  islands  on  the  south-west  coast 
in  the  name  of  the  Dutch  East  India  Company, 
while  Namaqualand  and  Damaraland  had  been 
traversed  from  end  to  end  by  British  and  Dutch 
traders  and  explorers. 

British  statesmen,  however,  neglected  the  south- 
west, though  the  islands  were  annexed  at  different 
times  between  1861  and  1867,  and  Walfisch  Bay 
in  1878.  In  1874  the  islands  were  incorporated  in 
the  Cape  Colony. 

The  mainland  on  the  south-west,  however,  re- 
mained an  open  field  as  far  as  actual  occupation 
went,  in  spite  of  its  being  tacitly  acknowledged  a 
British  "  sphere  of  influence." 

Until  the  "  scramble  for  Africa  "  no  one  would 
have  regarded  with  anything  but  ridicule  the  idea 
that  an  enormous  tract  of  country,  comprising  Great 
Namaqualand  and  Damaraland,  would  have  been 
lost  to  Great  Britain  ;  yet  British  statesmen  at  home, 


42      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

feeling  secure  in  the  country's  position,  refused 
to  encourage  anything  but  a  policy  of  gradual 
absorption. 

In  1867  the  Home  Government  was  strongly 
urged  by  the  Government  of  the  Cape  to  annex 
Great  Namaqualand  and  Damaraland,  but  declined 
to  undertake  the  responsibility. 

In  the  following  year  the  residents  of  the  terri- 
tory, including  numerous  German  missionaries, 
urged  that  the  country  might  be  declared  British 
and  be  subject  to  British  administration ;  but  the 
proposal  was  met  with  disfavour. 

In  the  year  1877  that  great-minded  Imperialist, 
Sir  Bartle  Frere,  then  Governor  of  the  Cape  of 
Good  Hope,  advised  by  the  Executive  Council  at 
the  Cape,  made  a  strong  recommendation  that  as  a 
first  step  an  Order  in  Council  should  be  passed,  em- 
powering the  Cape  Parliament  to  legislate  for  the 
purpose  of  annexing  the  coast  up  to  the  Portuguese 
boundary;  and  that  in  the  meanwhile  no  time 
should  be  lost  in  hoisting  the  British  flag  at 
Walfisch  Bay.  This  latter  step  was  assented  to, 
and  it  was  shortly  afterwards  carried  into  effect; 
but  Sir  Bartle  Frere 's  larger  proposals  were 
negatived. 

Sir  Bartle  Frere  subsequently  renewed  his  repre- 
sentations on  the  subject,  but  the  Imperial  Govern- 
ment continued  of  opinion  that  no  action  should  be 
taken.* 

*  Government    Paper    C — 4265,     1884. 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  43 

The  British  Imperial  Government  was  satisfied 
that  there  could  be  no  possible  danger  in  delay, 
and  were  disturbed  at  the  unsettled  state  of  the 
native  territories  of  the  Cape  Colony  and  the 
recurrence  of  native  disturbances  which  have 
been  a  prevailing  element  in  the  existence  of 
the  Colony. 

The  Imperial  Government  finally  decided  that  it 
was  unnecessary  to  extend  their  possessions  beyond 
the  then  boundaries,  that  the  Orange  River  should 
be  maintained  as  the  north-western  boundary  of  the 
Cape  Colony,  and  that  the  Government  would  give 
no  encouragement  to  schemes  for  the  extension  of 
British  jurisdiction  over  Great  Namaquaiand  and 
Damaraland. 

Up  to  1883  the  only  assent  to  petitions  from  the 
Cape  Government,  from  residents  in  Great  Nama- 
quaiand and  Damaraland,  and  from  the  natives  of 
those  territories,  was  for  the  annexation  of  the 
islands  off  the  coast,  and  of  Walfisch  Bay  and  a 
very  small  portion  of  the  country  immediately 
surrounding  it. 

The  danger  of  Germany  stepping  in  was  never 
disturbing  to  the  minds  of  the  British  statesmen, 
and  they  were  merely  concerned  with  weighing  the 
advantages  of  embracing  the  occasion. 

German  diplomacy  had,  however,  been  at  work 
in  its  insidious  way ;  and  although  active  opera- 
tions under  Bismarck's  policy  of  forming  "Trade 
Colonies "  were  not  undertaken  by  the  German 


44      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

Government  until  well  into  1884,  the  promoters  and 
originators  of  the  German  Colonisation  Society  had 
been  busy  ever  since  the  first  conception  of  the 
Colonial  idea  in  Germany. 

During  the  years  preceding  1884,  indeed,  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Bremen  and  Hamburg  merchants 
had  made  many  not  unsuccessful  efforts  to  worm 
themselves  into  the  trading  centres  in  Southern 
Africa. 

Ambassadors  of  German  commerce  set  out  as 
pioneers  of  the  new  movement,  and  as  early  as 
August,  1883,  the  Standard  newspaper  published 
a  communication  from  its  special  correspondent  in 
Berlin — headed  "The  First  German  Colony' 
reporting  that  a  Bremen  firm  had  "  acquired  "  the 
Bay  of  Angra  Pequena  (Luderitzbucht)  on  the 
south-west  coast  of  Africa. 

The  article  proceeds  that  "  the  German  Press, 
which  was  disappointed  by  the  Reichstag  last  year 
(re  the  Samoa  Bill),  expresses  great  satisfaction  at 
the  consent  of  the  German  Government  to  protect 
the  infant  Colony  and  to  allow  the  German  flag  to 
be  hoisted  over  it.  The  semi-official  Post  declares 
that  this  is  the  most  practicable  kind  of  colonisa- 
tion, because  it  avoids  international  difficulties.  In 
spite  of  the  statement  .  .  .  that  the  German  Gov- 
ernment avoids  giving  any  encouragement  to  immi- 
gration, the  Post  is  convinced  that  if  Germans  will 
promote  the  increase  of  German  manufacturing 
industry  by  founding  commercial  Colonies,  they 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  45 

will  not  lack  the  powerful  protection  of  the  Imperial 
Government." 

There  the  whole  of  Bismarck's  ex-territorial 
policy  lies  in  a  nutshell :  the  continued  expansion 
of  Germany  from  within  by  means  of  trade  with 
purely  German  dominions. 

Beyond  this  the  German  Government  expressed 
no  intention  of  actually  annexing  territory,  though 
it  was  a  straw  which  showed  very  clearly  the  direc- 
tion in  which  the  wind  set. 

It  was  an  inexpedient  policy  for  the  Government 
to  proceed  to  declaring  Protectorates  over  areas  not 
in  actual  occupation  by  other  Powers  yet  coming 
within  their  "spheres  of  influence,"  and  the  subter- 
fuge resorted  to  was  the  establishment  of  trade 
centres  by  merchants  who  would  claim  the  pro- 
tection of  the  German  flag;  albeit  it  could  not  be 
seriously  argued  that  the  mere  foundation  of  a 
trading  station  could  constitute  territorial  acquisi- 
tion in  any  part  of  the  world  where  Germany  as  a 
Power  had  not  the  least  claim. 

For  many  years  there  had  in  Germany  been 
advocates  of  colonisation  schemes  with  a  consider- 
ably wider  horizon,  who  had  formulated  ideas  of 
expansion  and  pressed  their  views  upon  the  German 
Government  and  public.  Foremost  amongst  these 
was  Herr  Ernst  von  Weber,  and  the  enunciation 
of  his  higher  ambitions  for  his  country,  in  a  remark- 
able article  published  in  1879,  not  on^y  attracted 
considerable  attention  in  South  Africa  but  induced 


46      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

Sir  Bartle  Frere  again  to  draw  the  attention  of  the 
Home  Government  to  the  avouched  plan  for  a 
German  Colony  in  South  Africa. 

Herr  von  Weber  in  his  article  pointed  to  the 
attractive  prospect  and  noble  ambition  by  which 
Englishmen  might  be  inspired  to  found  a  new 
Empire  in  the  African  continent,  "  possibly  more 
valuable  and  more  brilliant  than  even  the  Indian 
Empire." 

Von  Weber  argued  that  it  was  the  duty  of 
Germany  to  protest  against  steps  taken  by  England 
to  realise  this  ambition ;  urging  in  support  that 
Germans  had  a  peculiar  interest  in  the  "  Boer  " 
territories — "  for  here  dwell  a  splendid  race  of 
people  nearly  allied  to  us  (Germans)." 

After  going  into  the  history  of  the  Boers,  the 
writer  of  the  article  states  quite  seriously  that  the 
Transvaal  Boers  had  "  the  most  earnest  longing 
that  the  German  Empire,  ivhich  they  properly 
regard  as  their  parent  and  mother  country,  should 
take  them  under  its  protection." 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  except  in  Government  circles 
in  the  coterie  of  continental  intriguers  who  sur- 
rounded and  misled  Paul  Kruger,  the  German  is 
barely  tolerated  by  the  Boers,  and  vervluchste 
Deutscher  (cursed  German)  is  as  common  a  descrip- 
tive as  verdomde  Rooinek  (damned  Englishman).* 

*  Rooi-Nek,  Red  Neck,  served  to  describe  Englishmen 
owing  to  their  exposed  necks  burning  brick-red  under  South 
African  suns. 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  47 

In  the  first  place,  to  the  Boers  every  German  is 
a  Jew — a  gentleman,  in  his  mind,  associated  with 
a  watch  with  defective  parts  or  a  "  last  year's  ready 
reckoner." 

Next,  the  Boer,  while  proud  of  his  ancestry, 
strongly  disclaims  any  loyalty  to  a  European 
Power;  and  although  a  Dutch  dialect  is  in  almost 
universal  use,  he  would  indignantly  repudiate  a 
suggestion  that  he  is  bound  by  any  ties  to  Holland, 
even  after  he  has  been  fully  persuaded  of  the  actual 
existence  of  that  country. 

The  Boer  trekkers,  besides  those  of  Dutch 
origin,  included  the  descendants  of  many  noble 
French  families,  and  their  numbers  were  supple- 
mented by  English  immigrants  who  were  sent  out 
to  the  eastern  province  of  the  Cape  Colony  in  1820. 
Many  of  these  trekked  with  the  Boers  owing  to 
dissatisfaction  at  being  denied  political  and  civil 
rights;  and  of  the  original  3053  immigrants  who 
landed  in  1820,  only  438  remained  a  few  years 
later,  on  their  original  grants  in  the  Cape  Colony. 

While  the  Boers  protested  and  fought  against 
annexation  by  great  Britain,  it  was  merely  because 
of  repugnance  to  restraint  and  certainly  not  out  of 
any  love  for  Germany. 

After  expatiating  on  the  richness  of  the  mineral 
resources  of  the  Transvaal,  von  Weber  points  to 
the  possibilities  of  the  country  if  Delagoa  Bay  were 
acquired. 

In  spite  of  claiming  the  Boers  as  kindred,  how- 


48      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

ever,  he  shows  the  cloven  hoof  by  stating  that 
"  a  constant  mass  immigration  of  Germans  would 
gradually  bring  about  a  decided  numerical  prepon- 
derance of  Germans  over  the  Dutch  population, 
and  of  itself  would  by  degrees  effect  the  germanis- 
ation  of  the  country  in  a  peaceful  manner." 

He  goes  on  to  recommend  that  Germany  ought 
"at  any  price,"  in  order  to  forestall  England,  to 
get  possession  of  points  on  both  the  west  and  east 
coasts  of  Africa,  where  factories  could  be  estab- 
lished, branches  of  which,  properly  fortified,  could 
be  gradually  pushed  farther  and  farther  inland  and 
so  by  degrees  form  a  wide  network  of  German 
settlements. 

That  these  views  were  not  held  by  Herr  von 
Weber  alone  in  Germany  must  have  been  apparent 
to  our  Foreign  and  Colonial  Offices,  but  the  only 
steps  taken  were  to  ask  the  British  ambassador  in 
Berlin  for  a  report ;  and  this,  when  received,  assured 
the  Government  that  the  plan  had  no  prospect  of 
success,  because  the  German  Government  felt  more 
the  want  of  soldiers  than  of  Colonies,  and  conse- 
quently discouraged  emigration — while  the  German 
Government's  disinclination  to  acquire  distant 
dependencies  had  been  marked  in  the  rejection  of 
the  Samoa  Bill. 

The  possibility  of  a  reversal  of  feeling  did  not 
occur  to  anyone  apparently,  and  the  British  Govern- 
ment was  therefore  quite  satisfied  that  "  the  plan 
had  no  prospect  of  success  "  ;  and  having  intimated 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  49 

the  same  to  Sir  Bartle  Frere,  abandoned  interest  in 
the  matter. 

To  the  Prussian  militarist  section  in  Germany 
Ernst  von  Weber's  exhortation  irresistibly  ap- 
pealed. A  glance  at  the  map  of  South  Africa 
will  show  how  feasible  it  was  for  Germany  not  only 
to  curtail  the  expansion  of  British  territory  from 
the  south,  but  to  secure  the  dominion  of  the  greater 
part  of  the  continent  for  Germany. 

It  was  a  great  ideal  and  came  near  to  consumma- 
tion by  insidious  working  of  German  Government 
agents,  bountifully  assisted  in  their  object  by  the 
vacillation  and  indifference  of  the  British  Colonial 
and  Foreign  Offices. 

In  the  south-west  was  a  huge  area  of  which  no 
actual  annexation  had  been  proclaimed,  yet  to  the 
mind  of  our  statesmen  amply  secured  by  being 
understood  to  be  within  the  "  sphere  of  British 
influence."  Between  it  and  the  Transvaal  Republic 
lay  another  unprotected  area  stretching  across  the 
Kalahari  so-called  "  desert  "  and  including  Bechu- 
analand,  the  happy  hunting-ground  of  missionaries 
and  Matabele  raiders.  South-east  of  the  Transvaal, 
stretching  to  the  coast,  was  another  unoccupied 
region  comprising  Tongaland  and  part  of  Zululand, 
with  an  excellent  harbour  on  the  east  coast  at 
St  Lucia  Bay. 

Give  any  Power  Great  Namaqualand  and  Da- 
maraland  on  the  west  coast,  add  Bechuanaland  in 

the    interior   and   a   working   agreement   with    the 

D 


50      GERMANY'S  VANISHING   COLONIES 

Transvaal  Republic  with  access  to  the  east  coast 
at  St  Lucia  Bay,  then  the  Cape  Colony  was  shut 
in  by  very  circumscribed  borders  for  ever  from  her 
Hinterland;  while  a  dream  of  "Africa  all  Red" 
was  smothered  in  its  genesis,  and  its  record  filed 
away  for  future  reference  in  the  archives  of  the 
might  have  been. 

But  a  belt  across  the  southern  portion  of  the 
continent  did  not  comprise  the  sum-total  of  the 
Prussian  ambition.  There  was  an  enormous  and 
fabulously  rich  extent  of  country  stretching  up 
to  and  beyond  the  Zambezi,  occupied  only  by 
marauding  savages  under  the  rule  of  Lo  Bengula, 
King  of  the  Amandebele — and  now  known  as 
Rhodesia. 

With  a  distinct  vision  of  the  prize  offering,  the 
German  set  out  with  the  mailed  fist  wrapped  in 
cotton  wool  to  stalk  his  prey  delicately. 

In  1883  while  German  traders  were  busy  estab- 
lishing a  footing  in  Great  Namaqualand  and 
Damaraland,  diplomacy  and  intrigue  had  been  at 
work  in  the  Transvaal.  The  Boer  Government 
had  concluded  an  agreement  with  the  Portuguese 
whereby  they  obtained  an  outlet  to  the  east  coast 
by  a  railway  to  Delagoa  Bay,  and  the  Boers  had 
begun  to  occupy  portions  of  Bechuanaland,  separat- 
ing the  Transvaal  and  Namaqualand. 

Boer  Republics  were  proclaimed  over  the  terri- 
tories of  several  Bechuana  chiefs,  and  overtures 
were  made  by  German  emissaries  from  the  Trans- 


SOUTH  AFRICA  IN  1883. 

Showing  the  Transcontinental  belt  wi'h  which  Germany  hoped  to  shut  in  Cape  Colony 
and  prevent  northern  expansion. 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  53 

vaal  to  Lo  Bengula  for  a  concession  over  the  terri- 
tory under  his  sway. 

Tongaland  and  a  portion  of  the  Zululand  coast, 
including  St  Lucia  Bay,  was  under  the  subjection 
of  Dinizulu,  who  had  succeeded  Cetywayo  as  King 
of  Zululand,  and  with  him  negotiations  were  entered 
into,  the  ultimate  end  of  which  was  to  be  the  cession 
to  Germany  (or  the  Transvaal)  of  a  portion  of  the 
sea-board. 

The  British  Government  can  hardly  really  be 
blamed  for  not  pursuing  in  1883  a  vigorous  policy 
of  annexation  in  Southern  Africa,  for  in  1879  there 
had  been  general  native  disturbances — including  a 
costly  war  with  the  Zulus,  with  its  memorable  dis- 
aster to  the  British  arms  at  Isandhlwana  and  the 
deplorable  death  of  Prince  Victor  Napoleon.  In 
1 88 1  we  were  defeated  by  the  Boers  at  Laings  Nek 
and  Majuba,  the  little  war  ending  with  a  retirement 
quite  the  reverse  of  graceful ;  in  1882  Egypt  was 
in  a  foment,  and  although  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley 
destroyed  Ahmed  Arabi  at  Tel-el-Kebir,  the  Sudan 
was  still  overrun  by  frenzied  fanatics. 

The  dilatoriness  of  the  Imperial  Government, 
however,  is  inexcusable  in  view  of  the  importance 
of  the  issue  at  stake,  which  was  the  overthrow  of 
British  supremacy  in  South  Africa  in  favour  of 
Germany. 

Fortunately  for  us,  there  were  at  the  Cape 
imperially  minded  statesmen  who  were  fully  alive 
to  the  danger  threatening  Great  Britain  :  Sir  Bartle 


54      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

Frere,  Cecil  Rhodes,  Sir  Thomas  Upington,  and 
John  X.  Merriman ;  and  these  continually  pressed 
their  views  upon  the  Home  Government,  while 
Rhodes,  who  had  formulated  his  own  ideas  as 
to  the  destiny  of  the  sub-continent,  set  himself  to 
employ  his  bounteous  talents  of  mental  and  physi- 
cal energy  to  the  due  accomplishment  of  a  purpose 
which  he  made  his  life's  aim. 

Fortunately  he  had  at  his  private  command  the 
financial  resources  indispensable  to  the  consumma- 
tion of  his  ideals ;  for  if  he  had  had  to  rely  upon  the 
Home  Government  for  that  support,  his  ambition 
stood  little  hope  of  realisation. 

The  German  hope  of  obtaining  sway  over 
Bechuanaland  through  the  Boers  was  frustrated  by 
vigorous  action  on  the  part  of  the  Cape  statesmen. 
Their  protests,  and  especially  the  individual  efforts 
of  Rhodes,  stirred  the  Home  Government  into 
saving  for  the  Empire  the  territory  which  the  free- 
booters from  the  Transvaal  had  seized  upon  in  the 
name  of  their  Republic. 

Rhodes  personally,  on  behalf  of  the  Cape  Govern- 
ment, conducted  negotiations  with  the  Boers,  but 
it  was  not  until  1885  that  a  successful  issue  was 
arrived  at  after  a  show  of  force  by  the  Home 
Government  in  the  expedition  of  Sir  Charles 
Warren. 

The  danger  of  the  Cape  Colony  being  cut  off  from 
the  north  through  Bechuanaland  was  obviated,  but 
a  large  field  for  German  enterprise  still  lay  open. 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  55 

Their  attempts  to  acquire  a  footing  in  Matabele- 
land  were  frustrated,  and  the  delegates  who  set  out 
from  the  Transvaal  in  search  of  a  concession  from 
Lo  Bengula  were  unsuccessful  in  their  mission  to 
secure  for  Germany  sway  over  the  countries  that 
now  comprise  Rhodesia. 

For  decades  British  private  enterprise  had  been 
busy  on  the  coast  of  Great  Namaqualand  and 
Damaraland;  in  fact  in  1863  a  British  firm  (De 
Pass,  Spence  &  Co.)  had  purchased  from  the  native 
chiefs  a  large  tract  round  about  Angra  Pequena, 
and  worked  the  huge  deposits  of  guano  on  the 
Ichaboe  group  of  islands,  some  of  which  are  less 
than  a  mile  off  the  mainland. 

Disputes  were  constant  up  to  1884  between  British 
and  German  traders ;  continuous  appeals  were  made 
for  British  annexation  of  the  territory  from  the 
Orange  River  to  the  Portuguese  border,  but  the 
Government  could  not  be  induced  to  do  anything 
more  towards  acceding  to  Sir  Bartle  Frere's  urgent 
representations  than  to  declare  Walfisch  Bay,  with 
some  fifteen  miles  around  it,  to  be  British 
territory. 

In  1882  a  German,  Herr  Luderitz,  the  represen- 
tative in  South  Africa  of  the  Hamburg  and  Bremen 
merchants  who  pulled  the  strings  of  the  Govern- 
ment through  the  German  Colonisation  Society, 
established  a  trading  station  at  Angra  Pequena  and 
commenced,  in  accordance  with  the  preconceived 
plan  of  "  conquest,"  to  extend  the  operations  of 


56      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

his  business  inland  by  founding  trade  stations  at 
suitable  centres. 

The  British  traders  soon  began  to  make  represen- 
tations to  the  Cape  Government  owing  to  Luderitz 
exercising  rights  of  proprietorship  over  a  large 
portion  of  territory  which  he  claimed  to  own  by 
purchase,  and  to  his  levying  import  duty  charges 
upon  goods  landed  by  other  traders. 

Another  cause  of  complaint  was  that  Luderitz 
was  importing  large  quantities  of  arms  and  ammu- 
nition and  supplying  them  to  the  natives  by  way  of 
barter. 

The  German  wedge  having  been  insidiously 
inserted  into  South  West  Africa,  the  propitious 
moment  seemed  to  have  arrived  in  1884  for 
Germany  to  acquire  territorial  possession  of  South 
West  Africa.  Representations  were  accordingly 
made  by  the  German  to  the  British  Government, 
pointing  out  that  German  subjects  had  substantial 
interests  in  and  about  Angra  Pequena  in  need  of 
protection,  and  inquiring  whether  the  British  were 
prepared  to  extend  protection  to  the  German  indus- 
tries and  subjects  north  of  the  Orange  River,  which 
British  statesmen  seemed  to  have  stubbornly  deter- 
mined should  remain  the  boundary  of  the  Cape 
Colony. 

The  Governor  of  the  Cape  had,  indeed,  been 
dearly  and  distinctly  given  to  understand  that, 
except  as  regards  Walfisch  Bay,  the  Home  Govern- 
ment would  lend  no  encouragement  to  the  estab- 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  57 

lishment  of  British  jurisdiction  in  Great  Namaqua- 
land  and  Damaraland  north  of  the  Orange  River. 

Bismarck's  application  to  Lord  Granville,  there- 
fore, placed  the  latter  in  an  awkward  predicament, 
inasmuch  as  he  intimated  that  if  Great  Britain  were 
not  agreeable  to  providing  protection  for  the  lives 
and  properties  of  German  subjects,  the  German 
Government  would  do  its  best  to  extend  to  it  the 
same  measure  of  protection  which  they  gave  to 
their  subjects  in  other  remote  places. 

Bismarck  took  care,  however,  to  impress  upon 
the  British  Foreign  Office  that  in  any  action  the 
German  Government  might  take  there  was  no 
underlying  design  to  establish  a  territorial  footing 
in  South  Africa.  He  disclaimed  any  intention 
other  than  to  obtain  protection  for  the  property  of 
German  subjects;  and  this  assurance  was  compla- 
cently accepted  as  a  complete  reply  to  the  represen- 
tations of  the  Cape  statesmen. 

The  Home  Government  seem,  at  the  same  time; 
to  have  understood  at  the  beginning  of  1884  that 
the  choice  lay  before  them  of  formally  annexing 
South  West  Africa  from  the  Orange  River  north 
to  the  Portuguese  border,  or  acquiescing  in  a 
German  annexation. 

With  almost  criminal  procrastination,  however, 
they  deferred  replying  to  the  German  inquiry, 
deeming  it  necessary  to  communicate  with  the 
Government  of  the  Cape  Colony  and  invite  that 
Government,  in  the  event  of  South  West  Africa 


58 

being  declared  to  be  under  British  jurisdiction,  to 
undertake  the  responsibility  and  cost  of  the  admin- 
istration of  the  territory. 

Lord  Granville,  moreover,  temporised  by  inform- 
ing Bismarck  that  the  Cape  Colonial  Government 
had  certain  establishments  along  the  south-western 
coasts,  and  that  he  would  obtain  a  report  from  the 
Cape,  as  it  was  not  possible  without  more  precise 
information  to  form  any  opinion  as  to  whether  the 
British  authorities  would  have  it  in  their  power  to 
give  the  protection  asked  for  in  case  of  need. 

This  answer  Bismarck  probably  expected  and 
welcomed,  as  it  left  him  free  to  proceed  with  his 
own  arrangements,  while  the  British  Foreign  Office 
pigeonholed  the  subject  until  the  matter  might  be 
reopened. 

In  the  beginning  of  1883,  owing  to  representa- 
tions from  British  firms  interested  in  South  West 
Africa  as  to  German  activity  in  that  part,  the  British 
Foreign  Office  obtained  a  report  from  their  Charge" 
d'Affaires  in  Berlin,  and  were  again  lulled  into 
complaisant  inactivity  by  being  assured  that  the 
amount  of  "  protection  "  intended  to  be  afforded  by 
the  German  Government  to  Luderitz's  "commer- 
cial Colony  "  was  precisely  what  would  be  granted 
to  any  other  subject  of  the  Empire  who  had  settled 
abroad  and  acquired  property. 

It  would  be  a  mistake,  the  Foreign  Office  was 
notified,  to  suppose  that  the  German  Government 
had  any  intention  of  establishing  crown  Colonies 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  59 

or  of  assuming  a  Protectorate  over  a  territory 
acquired  by  a  traveller  or  explorer. 

In  September  the  German  inquiries  of  the 
Foreign  Office  assumed  a  more  pertinent  nature, 
and  to  the  uncultured  mind  would  carry  an  alarm- 
ing significance. 

The  British  Foreign  Office  was  asked  "  quite 
unofficially  "  and  for  the  private  information  of 
the  German  Government,  whether  Great  Britain 
claimed  suzerainty  rights  over  Angra  Pequena  and 
the  adjacent  territory;  and  if  so,  to  explain  upon 
what  grounds  the  claim  was  based. 

This  necessitated  another  reference  to  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope ;  but  in  the  meantime  a  party  of 
English  traders,  disgusted  at  the  delay  at  home  in 
annexing  the  south-west  coast,  resolved  to  take 
action  on  their  own  account,  and  set  off  for  Angra 
Pequena  with  the  fixed  determination — of  which 
they  gave  the  Government  due  notice — of  expelling 
the  Germans. 

Instructions  were  immediately  sent  out  for  a  gun- 
boat to  proceed  to  the  spot  to  prevent  a  collision 
between  the  British  and  Germans,  as  the  whole 
question  of  jurisdiction  was  still  the  "  subject  of 
inquiry." 

H.M.S.  Boadicea  proceeded  on  instructions  to 
Angra  Pequena,  and  her  Commander  was  able  to 
report,  on  her  return  to  Simon's  Bay  on  the  Cape 
station,  that  no  collision  had  taken  place. 

In  November,    1883,  the  British  Foreign  Office 


60      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

intimated  to  the  German  Government  that  a  report 
on  South  West  Africa  was  in  course  of  preparation, 
but  that  while  British  sovereignty  had  not  been 
proclaimed  excepting  over  Walfisch  Bay  and  the 
islands,  the  Government  considered  lhat  any  claim 
to  sovereignty  or  jurisdiction  by  a  foreign  Power 
between  the  Portuguese  border  and  the  frontier  of 
the  Cape  Colony  (the  Orange  River)  would  infringe 
Great  Britain's  legitimate  rights. 

Early  in  1884  the  German  Government,  in  a 
dispatch  to  the  British  Foreign  Office,  pointed  out 
that  the  fact  that  British  sovereignty  had  not  been 
proclaimed  over  South  West  Africa  permitted  of 
doubt  as  to  the  legal  claim  of  the  British  Govern- 
ment, as  well  as  to  the  practical  application  of  the 
same;  the  German  Government  having  clearly  in 
mind  the  avowal  of  a  fixed  intention  on  the  part  of 
the  British  Government  not  to  extend  jurisdiction 
over  the  coast  territory  excepting  in  so  far  as 
Walfisch  Bay  and  the  islands  were  concerned. 

The  dispatch  argued  that  events  had  shown  that 
the  British  Government  did  not  claim  sovereignty 
in  the  territory,  but  as  a  matter  of  fact  the  Govern- 
ment had  emphatically  declined  to  assume  that 
responsibility. 

The  German  dispatch  concluded  by  asking  our 
Government  for  a  statement  of  the  title  upon  which 
any  claim  for  sovereignty  over  the  territory  was 
based,  and  what  provision  existed  for  securing 
legal  protection  for  German  subjects  in  their  com- 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  61 

mercial  enterprises  and  property,  in  order  that  the 
German  Government  might  be  relieved  of  the  duty 
of  providing  direct  protection  for  its  subjects  in 
that  territory. 

Here,  again,  was  a  deprecation  on  the  part  of 
Germany  of  any  other  ambition  than  to  secure 
protection  for  life  and  property  of  German  subjects. 

Lord  Derby,  Secretary  of  State  for  the  Colonies, 
was  aware  of  the  possibility  of  Germany  assuming 
jurisdiction  over  Angra  Pequena  in  the  absence 
of  an  assurance  that  the  British  Government  was 
prepared  to  undertake  the  protection  of  German 
subjects;  but  the  British  Government  shrank  from 
the  idea  of  annexing  the  territory,  and  endeavoured 
to  saddle  the  Cape  Government  with  the  respon- 
sibility of  giving  the  undertaking  asked  for  by 
Germany. 

The  Cape  Government  was  in  no  position  to 
assume  such  a  responsibility,  though  they  did  not 
hesitate  to  offer  to  do  so  as  soon  as  a  cabinet  meet- 
ing could  be  called  to  decide  on  the  matter — but 
when  it  was  too  late. 

On  the  30th  January,  1884,  the  Cape  Govern- 
ment, in  a  minute  signed  by  John  X.  Merriman, 
recommended  the  annexation  to  the  British  Empire 
of  the  whole  of  Great  Namaqualand  and  Damara- 
land  from  the  Orange  River  to  the  Portuguese 
border,  the  interests  of  the  Cape  Colony  being 
chiefly  in  the  arming  of  natives  by  gun-running 
through  the  port  at  *A.ngra  Pequena. 


62      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

Official  and  private  notifications  were  sent  to  the 
British  Foreign  Offices  of  the  intention  of  Germany 
to  take  over  the  suzerainty  of  South  West  Africa 
in  defiance  of  Great  Britain's  claims;  but  our  Gov- 
ernment, fondly  embracing  the  idea  that  Germany 
had  no  intention  of  acquiring  the  territory  but  was 
only  solicitous  for  legal  protection  of  private  prop- 
erty, still  declined  to  act  until  the  Cape  Govern- 
ment expressed  their  readiness  to  accept  the 
responsibility  and  cost. 

On  the  24th  April,  1884,  the  day  which  has 
recently  been  described  in  German  publications  as 
"  the  Birthday  of  the  German  Colonial  Empire," 
Bismarck  telegraphed  to  the  German  Consul  at 
Cape  Town  as  follows : 

"  According  to  statements  of  Mr  Luderitz, 
Colonial  authorities  doubt  as  to  his  acquisitions 
north  of  Orange  River  being  entitled  to  German 
protection.  You  will  declare  officially  that  he  and 
his  establishments  are  under  protection  of  the 
Empire." 

This  meant  the  annexation  to  Germany  of  the 
whole  territory;  but  communications  continued 
between  the  Home  and  the  Cape  Colonial  Govern- 
ments. 

In  the  Reichstag  on  the  23rd  June,  1884,  Bis- 
marck showed  his  hand  for  the  first  time;  and  on 
the  point  of  infringement  of  Great  Britain's  "  legi- 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  63 

timate  rights,"  stated  that  no  such  infringement 
could  be  pleaded  inasmuch  as  in  English  official 
documents  the  Orange  River  had  repeatedly  been 
declared  to  be  the  north-western  border  of  the  Cape 
Colony. 

Bismarck  further  announced  that  it  was  the 
intention  of  the  Government  to  afford  the  Empire's 
protection  to  any  "  settlements  "  similar  to  that  of 
Luderitz  which  might  be  established  by  Germans. 
He  added  in  his  address  to  the  Reichstag  that 
"  if  the  question  were  asked  what  means  the 
Empire  had  to  afford  effective  protection  to  German 
enterprises  in  distant  parts,  the  first  consideration 
would  be  the  influence  of  the  Empire  and  the  wish 
and  interests  of  other  Powers  to  remain  in  friendly 
relations  with  it." 

There  was  nothing  left  but  for  our  Government 
to  bow  at  the  triumph  of  superior  diplomacy,  and 
the  position  was  accepted  with  a  good  grace — Lord 
Granville  declaring  that  in  view  of  the  definitions 
which  had  been  publicly  given  by  the  British 
Government  of  the  limits  of  Cape  Colony,  the  claim 
of  the  German  Government  could  not  be  contested, 
and  that  the  British  Government  was  therefore 
prepared  to  recognise  the  rights  of  the  Germans. 

There  were  some  very  violent  expressions  of 
opinion  on  the  part  of  Britishers  who  had  vested 
interests  in  this,  the  first  of  Germany's  Colonies, 
for  there  were  many  private  rights  concerned,  and 
it  was  decided  that  an  Anglo-German  Commission 


64      GERMANY'S   VANISHING    COLONIES 

should  be  appointed  to  inquire  into  and  settle  all 
conflicting  claims;  but  it  is  not  of  record  that, 
excepting  in  regard  to  the  islands,  the  decisions 
of  the  Commission  were  in  favour  of  the  British 
traders  who  had  for  many  years  been  established 
along  the  coast  of  South  West  Africa. 

The  result  of  Luderitz's  enterprise,  supported 
by  Prussian  diplomacy,  was,  therefore,  that  the 
German  flag  waved  over  the  whole  extent  of  South 
West  Africa  from  the  Orange  River  to  the  border 
of  Portuguese  Angola,  and  Angra  Pequena  as- 
sumed the  responsibility  of  the  name  "  Luderitz- 
bucht." 

In  the  meantime  Herr  Luderitz  had  established 
his  trading  stations  at  St  Lucia  Bay  on  the  coast 
of  Zululand,  and  proceeded  to  repeat  the  stratagem 
he  had  followed  in  Angra  Pequena  by  founding 
trade  stations  at  points  inland  while  he  opened 
negotiations  with  Dinizulu. 

The  annexation  of  South  West  Africa  had, 
however,  caused  the  British  Government  to  throw 
off  some  of  their  lethargy,  and  a  British  warship 
was  dispatched  to  St  Lucia  Bay,  over  which,  by 
virtue  of  a  treaty  made  with  the  Zulu  King  Panda 
some  forty  years  previously,  the  British  flag  was 
hoisted  on  the  i8th  December,  1884. 

Danger  of  the  Cape  being  cut  off  from  the 
north  was,  however,  still  extant  in  Bechuanaland, 
where  the  Boers  had  annexed  the  territories  known 
as  Stellaland,  Goshen,  and  Rooigrond;  but  this 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  65 

was  eventually  saved  to  Great  Britain  by  vigorous 
individual  action  on  the  part  of  Cecil  Rhodes,  who 
had  himself  appointed  a  Commissioner  to  visit 
Bechuanaland,  where  he  strenuously  opposed  the 
claims  of  the  Transvaal  Republic. 

These  claims  were,  however,  only  withdrawn  in 
the  following  year  after  an  expedition  under  Sir 
Charles  Warren  had  proceeded  to  the  disputed  areas 
and  persuaded  the  Boers  that  Great  Britain  was  this 
time  in  real  and  eager  earnest. 

Bechuanaland  became  a  British  "  Protectorate," 
and  the  well-laid  scheme  for  a  German  trans- 
continental Empire  was  frustrated. 

The  boundaries  of  the  territory  brought  under 
German  sway  in  South  West  Africa  were  defined 
by  what  is  known  as  the  Caprivi  Treaty  of  the 
ist  July,  1890,  between  Germany  and  Great  Britain, 
and  by  an  agreement  between  Germany  and  Por- 
tugal. Under  the  terms  of  the  latter  the  northern 
boundary  of  German  South  West  Africa,  between 
that  Colony  and  Portuguese  Angola,  was  fixed  at 
the  Cunene  River ;  while  under  the  Caprivi  Treaty 
the  boundary  between  the  Cape  Colony  and  German 
South  West  Africa  was  declared  to  be  the  Orange 
River. 

Great  Britain  retained  Walfisch  Bay,  which 
became  a  "  district  "  of  the  Cape  Colony  and  was 
placed  under  the  Colonial  administration  in  1884, 
and  also  kept  the  territory  round  Lake  'Ngami  in 
northern  Bechuanaland, 

£ 


66      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

The  lake  district  was  neglected,  however,  until 
Cecil  Rhodes,  fearing  the  loss  of  more  territory 
unless  it  was  beneficially  occupied,  sent,  at  his  own 
own  expense,  an  expedition  of  Boer  trekkers  to 
settle  on  the  land. 

Article  III  of  the  Capri vi  Treaty  was  an  important 
one,  for  thereunder  it  was  provided  that  Germany 
should  "  have  free  access  from  her  Protectorate 
(South  West  Africa)  to  the  Zambezi  River  by  a 
strip  which  shall  at  no  point  be  less  than  twenty 
English  miles  in  width." 

The  acquisition  by  Germany  of  South  West 
Africa  was  of  great  strategical  importance,  enabling 
them  to  establish  in  time  a  system  of  communica- 
tion by  wireless  telegraphy  which  covered  the 
whole  continent. 

In  Togoland  on  the  west  coast  the  most  powerful 
wireless  apparatus  in  the  world  was  installed,  and 
this  was  in  touch  both  by  wireless  and  cable  with 
Berlin. 

The  Togoland  station  was  also  in  touch  with  the 
wireless  installation  at  Windhoek,  the  capital  of 
German  South  West  Africa,  and  with  Dar-es- 
Salaam,  the  German  port  on  the  east  coast  opposite 
Zanzibar. 

It  is  a  matter  for  congratulation,  but  not  on  the 
statesmanship  displayed  by  British  ministers,  that 
the  fruit  of  the  German  essay  at  the  establishment 
of  a  "  new  Empire  "  in  Southern  Africa  was  no 
more  than  the  annexation  of  South  West  Africa,  for 


ILLUSTRATING   GERMANY'S  WIRELESS  SYSTEM   EMBRACING  AFPICA. 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  69 

it  is  by  no  means  unthinkable  that  there  was  a 
possibility  that  in  addition  to  the  south-west  the 
Germans  might  have  drawn  a  wide  belt  right  across 
the  continent  from  west  to  east,  taking  in  Bechuana- 
land,  the  Transvaal,  Tongaland,  and  that  portion 
of  Zululand  giving  the  Transvaal  an  outlet  to  the 
east  coast  at  St  Lucia  Bay. 

The  territory  hitherto  known  as  German  South 
West  Africa  covers  an  area  of  nearly  323,000  square 
miles,  and  has  a  coastline  of  930  miles  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Orange  River,  which  separates  it  from 
the  Cape  Colony  in  the  south,  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Cunene  River,  which  divides  the  territory  from 
Portuguese  Angola  in  the  north.  The  southern 
boundary  runs  along  the  Orange  River  into  the 
interior  for  some  300  miles. 

The  German  population  is  stated  to  be  about 
15,000,  and  the  natives  are  estimated  at  200,000; 
but  this  latter  is  probably  a  high  calculation,  in 
view  of  the  number  who  have  fled  into  Bechuana- 
land  and  Cape  Colony  to  escape  from  German 
tyranny. 

One  of  the  first  acts  of  the  German  Government 
after  their  annexation  of  Damaraland  and  Great 
Namaqualand  was  to  declare  the  claims  of  British 
concessionaires  invalid. 

The  "  rights  "  of  Herr  Luderitz  were  taken  over 
by  a  chartered  company,  incorporated  by  the 
Government,  which  set  itself  to  investigate  the 
resources  of  the  country. 


70      GERMANY'S  VANISHING   COLONIES 

The  islands  off  the  coast  remained  British,  and 
there  the  huge  deposits  of  guano  have  been  worked 
for  years. 

A  form  of  military  government  was  established, 
who  proceeded  to  impress  the  natives  with  the 
might  of  Germany ;  but  the  Hereros  who  occupied 
Damaraland  never  acknowledged  even  a  German 
suzerainty,  and  in  1904  a  "  rebellion  "  broke  out. 

Utterly  unaccustomed  as  they  were  to  warfare  of 
the  description  they  were  now  called  upon  to  under- 
take, the  Germans  found  great  difficulty  in  dealing 
with  the  "  Hottentots,"  as  the  natives  were  termed; 
and  the  German  effort  to  destroy  the  whole  tribe 
involved  the  employment  of  9,000  regular  troops 
and  an  expenditure  of  ^20,000,000. 

The  Herero  War  was  carried  on  for  nearly  three 
years,  and  in  1907  was  brought  to  an  end  by  Major 
Elliott  of  the  Cape  Police ;  for  the  principal  Herero 
chiefs  crossed  the  borders  of  the  Cape  Colony, 
where  they  were  routed  by  Major  Elliott's  force 
of  police  and  their  leaders  captured.  They  were 
detained  for  a  time  by  the  Cape  Government,  and 
finally  handed  over  to  the  German  authorities,  by 
whom  they  were  executed. 

Major  Elliott  was  thanked  and  duly  decorated  by 
the  Kaiser. 

The  Germans  did  not  find  tribes  of  natives  on 
whose  industry  they  could  batten,  and  the  inhabi- 
tants of  Great  Namaqualand  and  Damaraland  were 
really  unpromising  material  for  such  a  purpose,  not 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  71 

being  pure-bred  distinctive  tribes,  but  bastard  races 
with  a  strong  admixture  of  half-castes. 

For  decades  the  territory  had  been  the  refuge  of 
criminals  and  cattle  thieves,  who  had  fled  from  the 
Cape  Colony,  after  raiding  the  Bechuana  cattle 
kraals. 

A  great  deal  of  the  coast  and  part  of  the  southern 
portion  of  the  Colony  is  little  else  than  an  arid, 
waterless  waste;  in  fact  the  rainfall  in  parts  has 
been  known  to  be  half  an  inch  in  two  years. 

Even  at  Walfisch  Bay  there  is  no  fresh  water  to 
speak  of,  and  for  years  water  for  all  purposes  was 
brought  up  the  coast  by  steamers.  It  is  a  condi- 
tion prevailing  all  along  the  coast,  for  even  at  Port 
Nolloth  in  Lesser  Namaqualand,  south  of  the 
Orange  River,  the  inhabitants  depend  upon  water 
condensed  by  the  sea  fogs  and  dripped  from  the 
roofs  into  tanks,  which  are  by  the  way  kept  locked 
to  prevent  theft  of  the  precious  liquid. 

Powerful  condensers  have,  however,  for  some 
time  been  used  at  various  points  on  the  coast  to 
provide  fresh  water,  and  this  is  retailed  at  a  high 
price. 

The  Kalahari  Desert  stretches  over  the  border  of 
the  Cape  Colony  and  into  Bechuanaland,  and  con- 
tains no  surface  water;  although  good  results  have 
been  obtained  by  drilling  to  comparatively  shallow 
depths,  and  the  sandy  soil  proved  highly  produc- 
tive on  irrigation. 

The  desert  itself  was  occupied  by  nomad  bush- 


72      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

men  armed  with  bows  and  arrows  poisoned  by 
being  laid  in  putrid  human  flesh,  and  who  kept 
secret  the  places  where  they  obtained  water.  Many 
of  these  are  pools  hidden  beneath  the  earth's 
surface  and  from  which  the  water  can  only  be 
drawn  up  through  a  narrow  channel  by  suction 
through  a  bamboo  reed. 

A  good  substitute  for  water  is  found  in  the  wild 
melons  which  grow  in  patches  in  the  driest  parts 
of  the  Kalahari,  and  on  these  police  patrols  in 
Bechuanaland  have  often  to  rely  for  water  for  them- 
selves and  animals. 

The  arid  zone  is  limited,  however,  and  towards 
the  north-east  the  land  gradually  rises  to  an  elevated 
tableland,  possessing  a  dry  and  one  of  the  most 
perfect  climates  in  the  world. 

Approaching  Angola  again  farther  north  the 
country  becomes  almost  tropical. 

The  majority  of  the  veld  is  of  the  karoo  type, 
covered  with  the  remarkable  karoo  bush  on  the 
leafless  twigs  of  which  sheep  thrive  and  fatten. 
The  salt  bush,  similar  to  that  valued  in  Australia 
for  sheep,  is  found  in  abundance,  but.  towards  the 
north  and  coming  under  the  influence  of  a  rainfall 
the  land,  while  there  is  no  marked  geological  differ- 
ence, produces  grass  instead  of  the  salt  bush,  and 
there  are  belts  of  rich  grass  country  as  fine  as  any 
to  be  found  in  Southern  Africa. 

Damaraland  is  in  reality  one  of  the  finest  cattle 
countries  in  Africa,  while  nearly  the  whole  country 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  73 

is  suitable  for  sheep  and  goats.  With  energetic 
development  there  is  a  big  future  for  it  as  a  pro- 
ducer of  hides,  wool,  and  mohair. 

Horses  do  well  in  many  parts  of  South  West 
Africa;  in  fact  in  Namaqualand,  along  the  Orange 
River,  a  breed  of  hardy  ponies  exists  in  a 
semi-wild  state.  In  the  drier  parts  camels  are 
extensively  used  both  by  British  and  German 
patrols. 

The  most  waterless  area  near  the  coast  produces 
a  shrub  known  by  the  Boers  as  melk  bosch  (milk- 
bush),  which  carries  a  plentiful  supply  of  a  milky 
sap  which  has  been  manufactured  into  a  fair 
quality  of  rubber ;  but  the  difficulty  of  its  collection 
militates  against  the  prospects  of  its  development 
into  a  prosperous  industry. 

The  number  of  head  of  cattle,  the  property  of 
the  natives  but  transferred  to  the  Germans  by 
conquest,  was,  in  1913,  estimated  at  240,000, 
wool-bearing  sheep  660,000,  and  other  sheep, 
including  Persians,  at  over  500,000.  There  were 
approximately  the  same  number  of  goats,  20,000 
horses,  and  3000  ostriches. 

In  the  northerly  portion,  suitable  for  agriculture, 
this  was  carried  on  by  natives ;  but  their  land  was 
confiscated  by  the  Germans,  and,  as  Dr  Bonn  stated 
in  a  reading  upon  the  Colony,  "  the  framework 
of  society  is  European ;  very  little  land  is  in  the 
hands  of  natives." 

The  land  was  parcelled  out  into  farms  and  allo- 


74      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

cated  to  companies  and  Boer  settlers,  the  average 
size  of  a  farm  being  about  28,000  acres. 

Ostriches  are  found  in  many  parts  in  a  wild  state, 
and  a  great  number  have  been  domesticated ;  but 
the  German  traders  preferred  as  a  rule  to  rely  for 
their  supply  of  feathers  upon  the  plumes  of  wild 
birds  killed  by  the  bushmen  of  the  Kalahari. 

Of  other  industries  mention  might  be  made  of 
the  collection,  besides  guano,  of  penguin  eggs  and 
seal  skins  on  the  islands  off  the  coast,  while  a 
few  degrees  north  whalers,  operating  from  Port 
Alexander,  last  year  accounted  for  some  3000 
whales. 

As  at  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  the  whales  met 
with  are  of  the  less  valuable  "  hump-backed " 
variety,  but  an  occasional  "  right  "  or  sperm  whale 
is  captured. 

Of  ordinary  trade  there  was  practically  none,  as 
the  natives  had  little  or  nothing  to  give  in  exchange 
for  imported  goods;  and  as  for  the  Boer  settler, 
beyond  a  little  coffee  and  sugar,  he  has  learned 
to  rely  only  upon  the  resources  of  his  farm  for  his 
requirement.  The  natives'  only  asset  of  value  to 
the  German,  his  labour,  he  was  not  disposed  to 
trade  in. 

Investigation  has  revealed  the  existence  of  moun- 
tains of  marble,  varied  in  colour  and  of  a  quality 
equal  to  Carara;  while  enormous  deposits  of 
gypsum  exist. 

The  whole  country  is  highly  mineralised.     Silver 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  75 

first  attracted  the  attention  of  prospectors  but  has 
never  been  found  in  payable  quantities,  although 
large  veins  of  galena  have  been  traced. 

The  development  of  the  mineral  resources  is 
almost  entirely  British,  and  Johannesburg  financiers 
have  opened  up  copper  and  gold  mines. 

Enormous  deposits  of  haematite  iron  and  asbestos 
are  known  to  exist,  but  so  far  have  not  been  worked. 

Copper,  gold,  silver,  tin,  and  lead  have  been 
worked  profitably;  but  the  principal  mining  in- 
dustry is  diamond  washing,  and  this  is  mainly  in 
Government  hands. 

No  mine  or  pipe  has  been  discovered,  but  the 
diamonds  are  found  in  the  loose  sand  on  the  fore- 
shore under  conditions  similar  to  those  prevailing 
at  Diamantina  in  Brazil. 

The  diamonds  are  "  dolleyed,"  and  picked  out 
by  natives  under  supervision ;  but  there  are  a  few 
individual  diggers  upon  whose  net  production  the 
Government  levied  a  tax. 

The  output  of  diamonds  in  1913  was  valued  at 
'^"3,000,000,  the  stones  being  disposed  of  under 
State  agency,  who  occupy  the  same  relative  posi- 
tion to  the  industry  as  the  De  Beers  Diamond 
Buying  Syndicate  to  the  Kimberley  mines. 

Diamonds  and  their  concomitants  such  as  olivine, 
rubies,  garnets,  etc.,  have  also  been  discovered  on 
the  islands,  and  in  1906  the  discovery  of  a  true  pipe 
was  reported  on  Plum  Pudding  Island. 

A   syndicate   was   formed   in    England,   and  an 


76      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

expedition,  fitted  out  with  great  secrecy,  was  sent 
out  in  the  S.S.  Xema;  but  on  arriving  at  Plum 
Pudding  Island  they  not  only  discovered  that  a 
tug,  dispatched  by  a  Cape  Town  firm,  had  visited 
the  island  and  claimed  discoverers'  rights,  but  that 
by  order  of  the  Cape  Government  no  landing  was 
permitted  for  fear  of  disturbing  the  sea-birds,  on 
whom  the  guano  industry  depended. 

The  capital  of  South  West  Africa  was  established 
at  Windhoek,  235  miles  inland,  and  here  a  large 
five-tower  wireless  station  was  built,  which  could 
under  the  most  favourable  conditions  communicate 
direct  with  Berlin,  but  was  otherwise  in  touch  via 
Togoland. 

Windhoek  is  connected  by  a  railway  line  with 
the  coast  at  Swakopmund  at  the  mouth  of  the 
Swakop  River  close  to  Walfisch  Bay,  and  1318 
miles  of  railways  have  been  built. 

The  Administration  has  laid  down  a  network  of 
roads  and  telephones,  which  presents  a  contrast  to 
some  of  our  Colonies  where  the  means  of  communi- 
cation are  extremely  difficult,  but  points  at  the 
same  time  to  expensive  administration. 

Signposts  are  placed  everywhere  in  the  country, 
indicating  the  direction  of  water  or  villages. 

While  Luderitzbucht  is  a  fine  harbour,  the  lack 
of  fresh  water  made  the  Germans  select  Swakop- 
mund as  the  principal  point  on  the  coast,  although 
it  possesses  an  open  roadstead  and  a  heavy 
sandy  bar. 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  77 

From  Swakopmund  the  principal  railway  through 
Windhoek  links  up  with  the  line  from  Luderitz- 
bucht  at  Keetmanshoop,  and  the  lines,  as  in  other 
German  Colonies,  strike  significantly  towards 
British  borders. 

The  Caprivi  strip,  running  into  northern 
Rhodesia,  and  presented  to  Germany  under  the 
agreement  of  1890 — which  the  newspaper  South 
Africa  termed  "  a  most  iniquitous  one  " — was  of 
great  importance  to  Germany's  aspirations  in  the 
interior,  inasmuch  as  Germany  aimed  at  the  con- 
struction of  a  German  line  over  German  territory 
to  connect  with  the  Rhodesian  Trans-African  line 
near  the  Zambezi.  The  strip  indeed  abuts  for 
about  100  miles  on  the  Zambezi. 

No  effort  has  been  made  to  develop  it,  and  under 
a  heavy  penalty  no  one  was  allowed  to  enter  the 
strip. 

A  line  such  as  that  under  contemplation  by  the 
Germans  is,  however,  now  in  course  of  construc- 
tion from  Lobito  Bay  (Benguella)  in  Portuguese 
territory. 

The  only  real  settlers  in  South  West  Africa  are 
Boers  who  trekked  from  the  Transvaal  and  Cape 
Colony.  It  has  been  said  that  where  you  find  Boers 
you  may  be  sure  to  find  the  pick  of  the  farming 
land,  and  the  Boer  farms  are  widely  scattered  over 
Damaraland. 

The  German  system,  however,  was  not  likely  to 
appeal  to  such  spirits  of  independence  as  the  Boers, 


78       GERMANY'S  VANISHING  COLONIES 

especially  when  the  Germans  meted  out  to  those 
Boers  whom  they  employed  as  transport-riders 
during  the  Herero  campaign,  the  same  treatment 
as  to  the  natives,  and  in  some  cases  had  Boers 
tied  up  to  wagon  wheels  and  flogged  for  minor 
offences. 

Taken  in  all,  the  Colony  is  one  the  development 
of  which  has  been  carried  on  on  strategical  rather 
than  commercial  lines;  but  it  is  a  territory  of  vast 
possibilities  as  a  pastoral  land,  and  as  there  is  at 
present  all  over  the  world  a  shortage  of  meat,  likely 
to  intensify,  the  holder  of  a  vast  extent  of  country 
suitable  for  raising  cattle  possesses  a  most  valuable 
asset. 

There  cannot  be  the  least  doubt  that  in  common 
with  the  rest  of  Germany,  South  West  Africa  had 
for  some  time  been  preparing  for  the  anticipated 
inevitable  war  with  Great  Britain,  and  a  much 
larger  number  of  German  troops  were  held  in  the 
Colony  than  any  fear  of  a  possible  native  disturb- 
ance warranted. 

The  German  forces  were  estimated  at  no  less 
than  15,000,  with  at  least  30  batteries  of  guns. 

A  plan  had,  as  events  have  subsequently  re- 
vealed, been  laid  for  the  invasion  of  the  South 
African  Union,  which  was  to  be  overrun  with  the 
assistance  of  the  Boers — on  whose  co-operation  the 
Germans  were  fatuous  enough  to  imagine  they 
could  count. 

Holding  their  own  Colonies  by  terrorism,  they 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  79 

held  an  utterly  false  conception  of  the  relation  of 
our  Colonies  to  the  mother  country. 

The  Germans  in  South  West  Africa,  at  the  out- 
break of  the  war,  had  succeeded  in  bribing  and 
corrupting  an  ex-Boer  General,  Maritz,  and  issued 
a  circular  to  the  Boer  farmers  on  the  border,  calling 
upon  them  "  to  free  themselves  from  English 
dominion  so  long  and  unwillingly  borne,"  and  to 
exchange  the  British  "yoke"  for  the  German 
shackles.  They  forgot  that  the  weight  of  the 
"  yoke  "  was  never  felt. 

On  the  declaration  of  war,  a  section  of  the  Boers 
preached  neutrality  on  the  part  of  the  Union,  but 
the  Boer  leaders  themselves  denounced  this  doctrine 
as  craven  and  pitiful. 

While  "  a  systematic  German  propaganda  delib- 
erately attempted  to  poison  the  integrity  of  a 
section  of  the  people,"  to  quote  Mr  John  X.  Merri- 
man,  the  Germans  found  in  the  Union  Premier, 
General  Louis  Botha,  that,  to  the  German  mind, 
incomprehensible  being,  a  man  imbued  with  the 
sense  of  the  very  highest  integrity  and  honour,  in 
whose  nature  it  was  impossible  to  contemplate  a 
breach  of  faith  or  to  regard  a  treaty  bearing  his 
signature  as  a  "  scrap  of  paper." 

The  Germans  found  to  their  intense  surprise 
Briton  and  Boer  united,  while  the  Union  was  swept 
by  a  wave  of  intense  patriotism,  revealed  in  the 
promise  and  offer  of  loyal  support  to  General  Botha 
by  every  section  of  the  varied  comities. 


8o      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

From  natives,  Cape  "  Boys,"  and  Malays  alike 
came  assurances  of  their  intense  loyalty,  with  offers 
of  help;  while  the  native  contributions  in  cattle 
swelled  the  relief  funds. 

Prior  to  the  knowledge  of  Maritz's  defection, 
General  Botha  had  only  mobilised  a  few  thousand 
men  for  defence  purposes ;  but  on  his  assurance  that 
the  Union  was  able  to  undertake  its  own  defence, 
the  Imperial  Government  was  enabled  to  remove 
the  garrisons  of  regulars  for  service  on  the 
continent. 

This  was  possibly  regarded  by  the  Germans  as 
a  ruse  on  General  Botha's  part  to  get  rid  of  the 
British  garrisons ;  and  a  few  days  after  when  a  state 
of  war  existed  between  Great  Britain  and  Germany, 
the  Germans  on  the  Orange  River  assumed  the 
offensive. 

At  Nakob  a  garrison  of  five  South  African 
Mounted  Rifles  was  attacked  by  250  Germans  with 
three  maxims,  but  nevertheless  gave  a  good  account 
of  themselves. 

The  traitor  Maritz  held  an  important  command 
under  the  Union  on  the  Orange  River,  and  on 
ist  October,  doubtless  through  his  treachery,  two 
squadrons  of  the  South  African  Mounted  Rifles 
and  a  section  of  the  Transvaal  Horse  Artillery  were 
led  into  a  trap  at  Sandfontein,  where  they  were 
attacked  by  2000  Germans  with  ten  guns — and 
overwhelmed. 

The  place  was  a  veritable  death-trap,  being  one 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  81 

of  the  waterholes  surrounded  by  kopjes;  and  the 
Germans  adopted  the  method  employed  against 
themselves  by  the  Hereros,  who  waited  until  their 
enemies  had  encamped  at  a  waterhole  and  then 
attacked  from  the  kopjes. 

On  the  1 3th  October  Maritz  threw  off  his  mask 
and  broke  into  open  rebellion.  He  was,  however, 
easily  dealt  with  by  his  late  comrades,  and  fled 
across  the  border. 

Operations  in  this  theatre  are  of  course  extremely 
difficult,  owing  to  the  lack  of  water  and  the  im- 
possibility of  moving  large  bodies  of  men  across 
waterless  tracks  in  order  to  attack  an  enemy  who 
is  ensconced  about  the  only  available  source  of 
water. 

The  principal  advance,  therefore,  against  the 
Germans  in  South  West  Africa  was  by  way  of 
Luderitzbucht  and  Swakopmund. 

The  rebellion  of  Maritz  was  followed  later  by 
the  defection  of  two  distinguished  ex-Boer  Generals : 
Beyers  in  the  Transvaal  and  de  Wet  in  the  Orange 
Free  State.  But  they  seem  to  have  been  actuated 
in  prostituting  their  otherwise  unsullied  careers  by 
jealousy  and  petty  spite  against  General  Botha 
personally,  and  not  animated  by  any  anxiety  to 
come  under  German  dominion — though  de  Wet's 
principal  grievance  against  the  British  Govern- 
ment appeared  to  be  that  an  English  magistrate 
had  fined  him  five  shillings  for  assaulting  a  native, 
and  that  instead  of  admonishing  the  native  the 


82      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

magistrate  had  "  looked  at  him  as  if  he  wanted  to 
kiss  him." 

Upon  the  outbreak  of  ex-Generals  de  Wet 
and  Beyers,  supported  by  the  rag-tag  and  bobtail 
of  the  more  ignorant  Boers,  General  Botha  ordered 
a  further  mobilisation  in  the  Union,  and  decided 
to  take  the  field  in  person,  being  the  first  Premier 
of  a  British  dominion  to  do  so  at  the  head  of  his 
own  troops. 

He  immediately  proceeded  against  Beyers,  and 
the  latter  was  defeated  and  fled,  subsequently  meet- 
ing his  death  by  drowning  in  the  Vaal  River. 

General  Botha  then  turned  his  attention  to  de 
Wet,  who  with  a  partially  armed  force  had  com- 
menced blowing  up  railway  lines  and  destroying 
bridges,  and  after  a  prolonged  chase  de  Wet  was 
captured  and  the  pitiful  rebellion  ended. 

The  Union  troops,  under  the  command  of 
Colonel  Beves,  arrived  off  Luderitzbucht  on  igth 
September,  and  were  landed  by  tugs  without 
opposition. 

A  party  of  the  South  African  Railway  Engineers 
took  charge  of  the  electric  power  station,  telephone 
and  condensing  plant.  The  town  was  searched  for 
arms,  and  a  large  quantity  unearthed;  but  there 
was  not  the  slightest  injury  to  any  person  or 
property. 

A  special  party  was  landed  under  a  flag  of  truce 
to  demand  the  surrender  of  the  town ;  and  having 
returned  with  the  principal  German  officials  as 


SOUTH    WEST    AFRICA  83 

hostages,  the  official  entry  was  made  by  Colonel 
Beves,  and  the  Union  Jack  was  hoisted  over  the 
town  hall. 

The  Germans  had  retired  to  the  capital  at  Wind- 
hoek, where  they  were  said  to  have  three  years' 
provisions  and  stores,  and  had  removed  from 
Luderitzbucht  all  railway  rolling  stock,  but  had 
damaged  no  property. 

Colonel  Beves  issued  a  proclamation  formally 
annexing  the  town,  and  providing  for  the  security 
of  life  and  property. 

Prisoners  of  war  and  non-combatants  were  sent 
off  to  Cape  Town.  The  latter  included  a  number 
of  Cape  "  Boys  "  who  had  been  paid  their  wages 
in  German  goodfors ;  and  these  expressed  their 
delight  at  the  British  occupation.  The  goodfors 
were  cashed  by  Cape  Town  merchants  for  the 
"  Boys,"  and  were  passed  on  in  payment  of 
amounts  claimed  from  them  by  German  subjects. 

The  occupation  was  conducted  in  the  most  orderly 
manner,  and  the  late  German  residents  of  Luderitz- 
bucht were  loud  in  their  expressions  of  apprecia- 
tion of  the  consideration  with  which  they  were 
treated. 

The  Caprivi  strip  was  entered  by  a  force  of 
police  from  Rhodesia,  and  within  a  few  days 
Schuckmannsburg,  near  the  Zambezi  River,  sur- 
rendered to  them — and  so  a  very  unsightly 
intrusion  into  Rhodesian  territory  was  wiped  off 
the  map. 


CHAPTER    III 

EAST    AFRICA 

IN  the  early  days  of  modern  African  history,  when 
Portugal  was  at  her  zenith  and  her  richly  laden 
galleons  were  plying  between  the  Cape  of  Good 
Hope,  Goa,  and  Calicut,  practically  the  whole  of 
the  trade  of  the  east  coast  of  Africa  north  of  the 
Zambezi  River  was  in  the  hands  of  Arab-descended 
"  Sultans "  and  Portugal — who  had  extensive 
"  settlements  "  along  the  coast. 

A  trade  with  India,  which  in  the  past  has  been 
the  raison  d'etre  of  more  strife  and  bitterness  than 
any  subject — excepting  religious  intolerance,  for 
which  nations  have  contended — had  been  estab- 
lished for  centuries,  and  the  glamour  of  the  East 
pervaded  the  whole  atmosphere  of  social  and  com- 
mercial relations. 

When  the  European  nations  started  competing 
for  supremacy  in  the  east  coast  trade,  which  had 
always  been  a  valuable  one,  the  Arabs  made  the 
Island  of  Zanzibar  the  centre  of  their  activities. 

The  island  was  only  chosen  as  the  headquarters 
of  the  supreme  Sultan  of  the  east  coast  and  his 

84 


EAST    AFRICA  85 

palace  built  there  at  a  comparatively  late  date,  when 
the  Powers  had  already  begun  to  bring  under  their 
direct  administration  lands  to  whose  native  rulers 
they  had  hitherto  only  extended  a  "protection," 
a  benefit  which  had  not  been  sought  with  any 
spontaniety. 

The  selection  of  Zanzibar  as  the  Sultan's  head- 
quarters was  due  to  the  fact  that  it  afforded  a  much- 
needed  secure  place  of  retreat ;  but  a  trade  between 
Zanzibar,  India,  and  the  African  mainland  was 
built  up  that  rivalled  that  of  the  British  East  India 
Company. 

The  trading  expeditions  of  the  Arabs,  moreover, 
took  the  form  of  devastating  raids,  and  their  terri- 
tory on  the  coast  was  but  precariously  held. 

The  importance  of  Zanzibar  grew  apace,  and 
more  and  more  of  the  adjoining  coast,  sixteen  miles 
distant,  came  under  the  sway  of  the  Sultans,  whose 
caravans  pushed  farther  and  farther  into  the 
interior,  returning  laden  with  ivory  and  accom- 
panied by  gangs  of  slaves,  for  which  Zanzibar 
became  the  market  of  the  world. 

The  slave  trade  indeed  assumed  enormous  pro- 
portions, was  almost  entirely  in  Arab  hands,  and 
although  an  international  movement  for  the  sup- 
pression of  the  iniquitous  traffic  had  been  on  foot 
from  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the 
British  Government  alone  took  active  measures  in 
East  Africa  to  apply  their  humanitarian  principles 
of  freedom. 


86      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

With  the  wane  of  Portugal's  power  the  influence 
of  Great  Britain  in  Zanzibar  and  its  dependencies, 
the  chief  centres  of  which  were  the  Island  and  Bay 
of  Pemba  and  Witu,  grew  and  intensified  until 
Great  Britain  became,  as  was  meet  on  account  of 
her  possession  of  India,  supreme  in  the  Zanzibari 
regions — a  British  Consul  at  Zanzibar  being 
appointed  as  early  as  1841. 

Up  to  1884,  although  there  had  been  no  definite 
annexation  of  territory,  British  influence  was 
extending  in  every  direction,  as  British  explorers 
ventured  farther  and  farther  into  the  interior — 
adventurous  spirits  stirred  by  the  reports  of  the 
Arabs  of  the  great  lakes  existing  in  what  was  then 
unknown  Africa. 

Central  Africa  remained  a  no-man's-land,  in- 
habited only  by  aborigines,  and  under  no  control 
whatsoever  excepting  that  exercised  by  the  Arab 
leaders  of  marauding  and  slave-trading  expeditions, 
whose  principal  commercial  object  was  ivory — 
white  and  black. 

To  mention  but  a  few  names,  Burton,  Speke, 
Grant,  Baker,  all  added  to  the  world's  knowledge 
of  the  Dark  Continent,  and  mapped  out  the  region 
about  Lakes  Tanganyika  and  Victoria  and  Albert 
Nyanza;  Burton,  indeed,  penetrated  far  enough 
west  to  plant  a  British  flag  upon  the  majestic 
mountains  of  the  Kamerun,  above  the  Gulf  of 
Guinea. 

Their  wanderings  were  inspired  by  the  spirit  of 


EAST    AFRICA  87 

adventure  innate  in  the  British,  and  undertaken 
with  no  sordid  motive;  while  the  results  of  their 
labours  became  the  property  of  the  civilised 
world. 

In  the  course  of  their  explorations  the  wanderers 
unfolded  the  mystery  of  the  source  of  the  Nile  in 
Lake  Victoria  Nyanza,  which  had  been  the  subject 
of  conjecture  for  centuries. 

Of  explorers  other  than  British,  was  the  German 
Van  der  Decken,  who  had  extensively  explored  the 
interior  round  about  Kilima  'Njaro,  and  who  had 
undoubtedly  before  him  the  attractive  idea  of  a  new 
German  Empire,  embracing  a  large  portion  of 
Central  Africa;  and  who  urged  upon  his  country- 
men the  desirability  of  acquiring  part,  if  not  the 
whole  of  what  was  practically  no-man's-land,  from 
the  east  coast  opposite  the  Island  of  Zanzibar  to 
the  mouth  of  the  Congo  in  the  west. 

H.  M.  Stanley  had  explored  Uganda,  his  report 
on  which  caused  that  country  to  become  infested 
with  missionaries  whose  subsequent  squabbles 
about  forms  and  dogmas  gave  rise  to  more  serious 
disturbances  amongst  the  Mazai  and  Waganda 
than  the  slave  trade. 

Stanley  had  also  crossed  the  continent,  and  in 
the  employ  of  Leopold,  King  of  the  Belgians, 
made  that  far-seeing  monarch's  private  venture 
an  enormously  successful  enterprise — embracing  a 
huge  area,  taking  in  from  the  western  shore  of 
Lake  Tanganyika  (which  it  covered)  the  whole 


88      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

country  across  the  continent  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Congo. 

The  Congo  Free  State  was  born  of  King  Leo- 
pold's venture,  and  remained  his  private  concern 
until  his  death,  when  by  his  will  he  bequeathed  the 
territory,  over  800,000  square  miles  in  extent, 
to  Belgium. 

It  might  be  mentioned  that  the  Belgian  Congo 
shut  off  along  Lake  Tanganyika  British  Central 
Africa  (Nyasaland)  from  British  East  Africa 
(Uganda). 

A  Frenchman,  M.  Labaudy,  in  1904  endeavoured 
to  emulate  King  Leopold,  and  proclaimed  himself 
Emperor  of  the  Sahara ;  but  his  resources  not  being 
quite  in  proportion  to  his  ambitions,  the  Sahara 
was  not  brought  under  his  august  rule. 

While  stamping  out  the  slave  trade,  Great 
Britain  was,  in  1884,  bringing  under  her  sway  the 
tribes  on  the  east  coast ;  and  this  was  being  accom- 
plished without  much  difficulty,  accompanied,  as 
her  dealings  with  natives  were,  by  justice,  which 
more  than  any  virtue  appeals  to  the  native  mind. 

From  the  north  Great  Britain  had  advanced 
along  the  Nile,  and  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
taken  under  protection  the  Nile  country  up  to  Lake 
Albert  Nyanza. 

Round  about  Kilima  'Njaro  Mr  (now  Sir)  H.  H. 
Johnston  had  obtained  concessions  of  territory; 
but  the  necessity  of  actually  and  formally  annex- 
ing was  not  apparent  to  the  Government,  who 


EAST    AFRICA  89 

preferred    to    rely    upon    a    process    of    gradual 
absorption. 

As  early  as  1874  German  traders  were  establish- 
ing themselves  in  Zanzibar  and  the  territories  of 
the  Sultan  on  the  mainland,  and  "  making  a  bid 
for  a  fair  share  of  the  trade";  while  Germany, 
which  had  really  only  existed  since  1871,  made 
the  affairs  of  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  her  business, 
"  because  of  Germany's  interest  in  suppressing 
slavery,"  which,  however,  the  Germans  did  not 
hesitate  to  practise  extensively  themselves  as  soon 
as  they  had  territorially  established  themselves. 

There  was  never  a  more  disinterested  act  than  the 
freedom  of  these  human  machines  on  the  part  of 
Great  Britain ;  for  while  she  was  insisting  upon  the 
release  of  thousands  and  thousands  of  slaves,  to 
whose  "  masters  "  she  paid  large  sums  as  com- 
pensation, many  industries  in  her  Colonies  were 
not  only  hampered  but  closed  down  altogether  on 
account  of  th  •  impossibility  of  procuring  the  native 
labour  necessary  for  their  continuance. 

The  idea  of  Colonies  forming  a  new  German 
Empire  in  Africa,  which  obsessed  the  minds  of  a 
few  individuals  and  later  on  appealed  to  the  cupidity 
of  the  German  merchants,  could  not  obtain  the 
all-powerful  Bismarck's  support  until  their  proved 
value  as  commercial  propositions  should  justify  him 
in  extending  to  them  the  Imperial  protection.  At 
the  opportune  moment,  however,  he  struck  and 
struck  hard  with  his  weapons  of  blood  and  iron. 


90      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

Unending  warnings  were  conveyed  to  our 
Government  as  to  the  result  of  inaction  in  proclaim- 
ing sovereignty  over  their  "  spheres  of  influence  " 
on  the  east  coast,  and  in  1880  Sir  Bartle  Frere  made 
strong  representations  to  the  Government  as  to 
Germany's  growing  influence;  but  the  Government 
remained  incredulous  of  German  designs. 

The  events  of  1884,  however,  proved  prognosti- 
cations to  be  correct,  and  the  "  scramble  for 
Africa  "  entailed  a  division  of  the  territories  of  the 
Zanzibari  Sultan. 

While  Herr  Luderitz  was  busy  establishing  trade 
stations  at  Angra  Pequena  and  St  Lucia  Bay,  and 
pushing  inland  to  girdle  Africa  with  a  German  belt, 
other  and  less  open  methods  were  employed  on  the 
east  coast. 

Dr  Carl  Peters  was  President  of  the  new-formed 
German  Colonisation  Society  which  was  at  the  back 
of  the  initiatory  steps  for  acquiring  oversea  terri- 
tory ;  and  he,  with  two  friends,  set  out  for  Zanzibar 
as  a  base  of  operations,  being  justifiably  doubtful 
of  Luderitz 's  success  in  operating  from  St  Lucia 
Bay. 

All  Dr  Peters's  proceedings  were  enveloped  in 
great  secrecy. 

In  workmen's  garb  the  three  made  their  way 
across  France  and  travelled  as  steerage  passengers 
to  Zanzibar,  and  thence,  towards  the  end  of  1884, 
proceeded  up  country  and  obtained,  under  the  pre- 
text of  "autograph  collecting,"  the  signatures  of 


EAST    AFRICA  91 

Arab  and  native  chiefs  to  treaties,  with  which  they 
hurried  back  to  Berlin  early  in  1885  and  founded 
a  company  to  exploit  their  "concessions" — the 
company  being  known  as  the  German  East  Africa 
Society. 

The  territories  covered  by  these  concessions  had, 
through  the  British  Consul,  been  offered  by  the 
Sultan  of  Zanzibar  to  Great  Britain,  who,  however, 
declined  to  assume  the  protection  until  a  real 
necessity  arose. 

The  necessity  had  now  arisen,  but  Peters  and  his 
friends  were  guarded  by  treaties  bearing  the  sig- 
natures of  natives  potentates,  which  according  to 
the  ethics  of  German  kultur  were  worthy  of  respect. 

In  1885  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  was  acquainted  by 
the  British  Consul  of  the  annexation  by  Germany 
of  a  large  portion  of  his  territory  on  the  main- 
land which  had  been  proclaimed  by  Bismarck,  and 
instead  of  supporting  the  Sultan  in  his  righteous 
protest  our  statesmen,  having  been  forestalled, 
determined  to  give  Germany  all  assistance  to 
establish  herself  as  a  neighbour ;  and  the  British 
Representative  received  instructions  "  to  co-operate 
immediately  with  the  German  Consul-General  in 
forwarding  German  interests." 

Lord  Granville,  however,  reproached  Bismarck 
with  not  disclosing  his  real  designs,  which  must 
have  caused  that  statesman  many  a  sleepless 
night. 

On  his  part  Lord  Granvill*  went  out  of  his  way 


92      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

to  inform  Bismarck,  in  1885,  that  British  capitalists 
intended  to  build  a  railway  from  the  east  coast  (the 
Nairobi  Railway)  to  the  Nile  lakes,  and  that  "  the 
project  would  only  receive  the  support  of  the 
Brittanic  Government  if  the  latter  were  assured  that 
it  would  in  no  way  interfere  with  German  designs." 
This  to  Bismarck  might  very  easily  have  appeared 
to  be  veiled  sarcasm  had  he  been  dealing  with  a 
man  of  his  own  kidney. 

A  demonstration  of  force  on  the  part  of  Germany 
was  necessary  to  induce  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar 
to  adopt  the  same  humble  attitude  as  the  British 
Government;  and  a  formidable  German  squadron 
appeared  before  the  Sultan's  palace  on  the  7th 
August,  1885,  and  presented  an  ultimatum,  on 
which  the  Sultan  bowed  to  the  inevitable  and 
stoically  watched  himself  depleted  of  his  possessions 
on  the  mainland,  though  he  retained  a  considerable 
portion  of  the  coastline. 

Zanzibar  Island,  indeed,  itself  fell  under  a 
German  form  of  suzerainty  from  this  date  until 
1890,  when  Germany  resigned  all  claims  over  the 
island  to  Great  Britain,  in  exchange  for  the  cession 
of  Heligoland. 

The  slopes  of  Kilima  'Njaro  were  the  scene  of 
the  busiest  activities  of  German  agents  prior  to  the 
appointment  of  a  Commission  for  the  delimitation 
of  the  respective  British  and  German  boundaries. 

Although  the  concessions  granted  to  Mr  H.  H. 
Johnston  in  this  desirable  region  were  considerably 


EAST     AFRICA  93 

earlier  than  any  German  grants,  our  Government 
agreed  to  allow  all  claims  to  remain  in  abeyance 
pending  the  deliberations  and  decision  of  the  joint 
Boundary  Commission. 

Under  the  agreement  come  to  by  Great  Britain 
and  Germany  as  the  result  of  the  report  of  the 
Commission  (1886),  a  strip  of  coastline  600  miles 
in  length  was  left  to  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  in 
addition  to  his  islands,  while  he  gave  up  all  claims 
to  Kilima  'Njaro. 

Under  the  agreement  practically  the  whole  of  the 
magnificent  Kilima  'Njaro  region,  with  its  fertile 
slopes  and  foothills,  was,  through  an  uncalled-for 
fit  of  generosity  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  made 
over  to  Germany — a  concession  which  was  made, 
it  was  said,  to  humour  a  sentimental  wish  expressed 
by  the  Kaiser  to  possess  the  highest  mountain  in 
Africa. 

The  effect  of  this  concession  was,  however,  to 
place  severe  restrictions  upon  the  development  of 
British  East  Africa,  and  threatened  to  confine 
British  enterprise  to  exceedingly  narrow  limits. 

Meanwhile  Portugal  could  not  look  on  with 
equanimity  at  the  partitioning  out  by  Great  Britain 
and  the  upstart  Power,  Germany,  of  territory  the 
history  of  which  was  permeated  by  her  traditions, 
and  protested  against  being  excluded  from  the 
deliberations  of  the  Powers. 

In  view  of  the  fact,  however,  that  Portugal's 
claims  were  based  upon  ancient  rights  held  only  by 


94      GERMANY'S  VANISHING   COLONIES 

hazy  recollectiont  and  that  she  had  never  exercised 
effective  jurisdiction  over  the  territory  she  claimed, 
she  was  treated  with  scant  consideration  by  Great 
Britain,  and  no  courtesy  at  all  by  Germany,  who, 
however,  emphatically  demonstrated  the  hopeless- 
ness of  the  position  by  warning  Portugal  that  any 
action  on  her  part  displeasing  to  Germany  might 
result  in  the  loss  to  her  of  any  and  all  territory 
she  then  held  in  Africa. 

Portugal  could  but  raise  a  loud  lament  and  stamp 
in  impotent  rage;  but  when,  after  the  agreement  of 
1886,  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  made  coarse  refer- 
ences to  the  status  of  Portugal,  the  latter  found  her 
limit  of  endurance,  and  developing  a  fit  of  naughty 
petulance,  proceeded  to  bombard  for  three  days 
several  unprotected  native  villages  on  the  Bay  of 
Tungi,  on  the  main  coastline  belonging  to  the 
Sultan,  thereby  by  no  means  impressing  the  world 
with  an  appreciation  of  Portugal's  might 

The  Germans  after  the  agreement  of  1886  pro- 
ceeded with  energy  and  determination  not  only  to 
test  the  resources  of  their  new  "  Colony,"  but  to 
extend  their  territorial  sphere  in  every  direction — 
a  proceeding  which  evoked  a  British  protest  and 
necessitated  a  fresh  delimitation  of  boundaries  in 
1890.  This  was  effected  by  the  Caprivi  Treaty  of 
ist  July,  1890,  under  which  Germany  received 
ridiculously  favourable  consideration  in  every 
demand. 

In  1888  the  whole  of  the  remaining  territory  of 


EAST    AFRICA  95 

the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  on  the  mainland  was  placed 
under  the  administration  of  Germany  by  virtue  of 
a  lease  from  the  Sultan.  The  new  area  included 
the  magnificent  harbour  of  Dar-es-Salaam,  which 
became  the  principal  port  on  that  portion  of  the 
east  coast. 

Five  days  after  taking  possession  of  the  newly 
leased  territory,  the  Germans  managed  to  organise 
an  "insurrection"  amongst  the  natives;  and  the 
assistance  of  the  Imperial  (German)  Government 
was  invoked  by  the  German  East  Africa  Society 
to  repress  the  "  rebellion  "  which  they  had  deliber- 
ately incited. 

Captain  Hermann  von  Wissmann  was  at  the 
beginning  of  1889  accordingly  sent  out  with  full 
instructions  to  deal  with  the  native  revolt,  and 
having  enlisted  a  thousand  or  more  ex-British 
askaris  (native  soldiers)  and  Zulus,  he  proceeded  to 
slay,  burn,  and  destroy.  A  huge  area  was  devas- 
tated and  the  "  rebellion  "  was  quelled,  while  the 
natives  were  thoroughly  terrorised. 

The  principal  sufferers,  however,  were  British 
Indians,  owners  of  plantations  and  trading  stations, 
and  these  fled  for  protection  to  British  territory  or 
crossed  to  Zanzibar. 

The  German  East  Africa  Company  was  severely 
censured  in  various  quarters  in  connection  with  the 
"  insurrection,"  but  pleaded  that  it  was  a  move- 
ment organised  by  the  Arabs  through  jealousy  at 
the  success  of  German  trading  stations. 


96      GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

This  was  credulously  accepted  by  Great  Britain, 
who  went  to  the  length,  when  her  co-operation  was 
sought  by  Germany  in  her  need,  of  dispatching  a 
fleet  which  united  with  the  German  ships  in  estab- 
lishing a  blockade  all  along  the  coast  in  Zanzibar! 
waters. 

The  Reichstag  voted  the  sum  of  two  million 
marks  "  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade  and 
the  protection  of  German  interests  in  East  Africa," 
and  this  sum  was  used  to  meet  the  expenses  of  the 
"  campaign." 

So  far  from  expending  millions  of  marks  on  the 
cause  of  humanity,  the  Germans,  on  their  own 
admission,  were  largely  employing  slave  labour  on 
their  tobacco  plantations. 

The  natives  were  not  finally  terrorised  into  sub- 
mission until  late  into  the  year  1890;  and  the 
Germans,  being  firmly  established,  made  their 
position  unquestionably  secure  by  purchasing 
from  the  Sultan,  in  the  name  of  the  German  East 
Africa  Society,  the  whole  of  his  territory  on  the 
mainland  for  the  sum  of  four  million  marks — 
only  a  part  of  which  was,  however,  ever  paid. 

The  fact  that  the  whole  venture  had  passed  into 
the  hands  of  the  German  Government  was  only 
manifested  by  the  fact  that  the  Reichstag  voted  ten 
and  a  half  million  marks  partly  for  the  purpose  of 
paying  the  Sultan  of  Zanzibar  and  partly  for  use 
in  the  improvement  and  development  of  Germany's 
new  "Colony." 


EAST    AFRICA  97 

The  territory  under  the  sway  of  Germany  on  the 
east  coast  of  Africa  was  the  largest  of  Germany's 
Colonies,  comprising  an  area  double  the  size  of 
Germany  itself,  387,000  square  miles.  On  the 
north  the  Colony  is  bounded  by  British  East 
Africa  and  on  the  south  by  the  Portuguese  Colony 
of  Mozambique. 

Situated  between  the  20  and  10°  S.  the  climate  is 
tropical,  and  in  parts  on  the  coast  there  are  dense 
mangrove  swamps,  with  the  usual  luxui  iant  tropical 
vegetation. 

The  country  rises  rapidly,  however,  towards 
the  interior  where  the  Tanganyika  plateau  forms 
a  high  and  healthy  tableland  over  3,500  feet 
high. 

Range  after  range  of  mountains  and  foothills 
divide  the  coast  from  the  majestic  peak  of  Kilima 
'Njaro  on  the  borders  of  British  East  Africa,  and 
whose  slopes  offer  splendid  conditions  for  Euro- 
pean settlement. 

The  white  population  numbers  roughly  5,500, 
mainly  German  officials,  traders,  soldiers,  and 
managers  of  plantations;  for,  as  in  the  other  Ger- 
man Colonies,  there  are  no  settlers  in  the  true  sense, 
although  Professor  Bonn  has  said  that  there  are 
"  even  some  close  settlements  reproducing  German 
village  life." 

The  civil  population  indeed  is  composed  chiefly 
of  Britishers  or  Greeks,  while  there  are,  as  else- 
where along  the  coast,  a  great  many  Banyans  or 

G 


98  GERMANY'S  VANISHING  COLONIES 
Indian  traders,  who  are  British  subjects,  nearly 
every  German  being  a  soldier  or  an  official. 

The  native  population  numbers  9,000,000 — the 
two  principal  tribes  being  the  Urundi  with  1,500,000 
and  the  Ruandi  with  2,000,000  respectively. 

From  the  German  point  of  view  this  was  an 
ideal  "  Colony,"  for  there  were  abundant  natural 
resources  and  a  dense  native  population  whose  in- 
dustry might  assure  prosperity  for  their  German 
masters. 

In  acquiring  East  Africa  the  Germans  had  made 
a  bid  for  the  dominant  interest  in  Central  Africa 
and  had  by  no  means  lost  hope  of  absorbing  the 
Congo  Free  State,  which  by  international  agree- 
ment was  open  to  Free  Trade.  They  went  so  far 
indeed  as  to  offer  to  take  the  Congo  Free  State 
under  "  protection  "  when  the  atrocities  of  the 
Congo  rubber-collecting  trade  were  the  subject  of 
European  concern.  The  aim  and  end  of  such  a 
"  protection  "  may  easily  be  surmised. 

Having  settled  down  to  the  exploitation  of 
the  territory  Germany,  with  her  trade  methods, 
began  to  oust  the  once  all-dominant  trade  of 
Zanzibar. 

The  latter  depended  on  her  trade  with  India  and 
the  mainland,  and  the  Germans  instituted  a  direct 
service  of  luxuriously  appointed  steamers  to  stop 
goods  from  going  to  Zanzibar  and  being  handled 
twice.  In  the  way  German  traders  are  able  to  cut 
prices,  it  is  probable  that  the  paying  of  one 


EAST     AFRICA  99 

handling   of   the   goods   constituted   the   profit  on 
them. 

A  direct  Indian  service  was  also  inaugurated 
which  further  cut  into  Zanzibar  trade;  while  a  line 
of  steamers  started  to  circumnavigate  Africa,  going 
down  the  west  coast  to  Cape  Town  and  returning 
up  the  east  coast  leisurely  through  the  Suez  Canal 
back  to  Hamburg. 

It  was  not  long  before  the  Germans  had  prac- 
tically the  whole  of  the  east  coast  trade  in  her 
hands,  and  the  German  description  of  Dar-es- 
Salaam  as  the  metropolis  of  the  whole  of  the  East 
African  coast  began  to  have  some  foundation  in 
fact. 

After  quelling  the  "  insurrection  "  in  1889, 
Major  von  Wissmann  set  the  corps  he  had  formed 
to  the  building  of  Government  offices  and  resi- 
dences, and  the  imposing  edifices  round  about  the 
lagoon  at  Dar-es-Salaam  are  tribute  to  their  skill. 

A  strong  force  of  police  was  enrolled  and  con- 
sisted of  260  Europeans  and  2,750  men,  who, 
uniformed  in  khaki,  were  armed  with  the  most 
modern  guns  and  rifles.  They  constituted  a  for- 
midable fighting  force  of  sixteen  companies,  each 
of  which  had  several  machine  guns. 

The  natives  are  in  the  main  mild-mannered ;  and 
as  long  association  with  the  Arabs  made  a  con- 
dition of  slavery  quite  a  natural  existence,  they 
were  readily  terrorised,  and  the  Germans  found 
ideal  ground  for  cultivation. 


ioo    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

Energetically  the  administration  set  to  work  to 
open  up  the  country  by  establishing  centres  of 
trade ;  the  country  was  intersected  in  every  direction 
by  paths  six  feet  wide  for  machela  *  travelling,  and 
the  natives  were  compelled  to  make  these  paths 
free  of  charge  and  maintain  them  in  good  order. 

The  administration,  German  like,  was  all  by  rule 
of  thumb,  and  even  the  prices  of  food  were  every- 
where fixed  by  tariff.  German  home,  methods  were 
applied  everywhere  with  a  mixture,  as  in  Zanzibar 
itself,  of  a  shoddy  imitation  of  Indian  life. 

The  Port  of  Dar-es-Salaam  (the  "  Haven  of 
Peace  ")  w3s  made  the  capital,  and  from  here  the 
principal  railway  runs  into  the  interior. 

From  the  coast  the  town  is  hardly  visible,  the 
quiet  lagoon  on  which  it  is  built  being  so  shut  in 
by  bluffs ;  while  the  entrance  is  between  coral  reefs, 
the  passage  through  which  is  in  some  places  not 
much  over  fifty  yards.  The  harbour  is  small  but 
is  perfectly  sheltered,  and  with  its  fringe  of  palms 
makes  a  striking  picture. 

The  town  is  laid  out  on  luxurious  lines  with  wide 
well-paved  streets,  an  extensive  botanical  garden, 
electric  light,  and  a  powerful  wireless  installation. 
The  neighbouring  native  town  is  a  striking  con- 
trast, being  squalid  in  the  extreme. 

*  Machela. — Hammock  slung-  on  a  bamboo  which  is 
carried  on  the  shoulders  of  six  or  eight  boys,  according  to 
the  weight  of  the  traveller ;  a  form  of  travelling  universal 
in  Central  and  Eastern  Africa. 


EAST    AFRICA  101 

The  railway  system  extends  for  nearly  1,000 
miles,  and  a  line  from  Dar-es-Salaam  to  Lake 
Tanganyika  was  being  pushed  on  energetically. 
The  territory  is  eminently  suited  for  the  cultivation 
of  tropical  agricultural  products,  and  the  export  of 
these  amounts  to  roughly  ^1,800,000  per  annum 
— about  equally  divided  between  European  and 
native.  - 

The  Germans  have  done  no  development  them- 
selves for  the  production  of  raw  material,  but 
the  European  plantations  are  huge  farms  in  the 
lower-lying  country;  and  though  on  the  slopes 
of  Kilima  'Njaro  there  are  small  holders,  these 
are  in  the  main  Englishmen,  Greeks,  or  British 
Indians. 

The  Germans  did  not  grant  a  full  title  to  land, 
and  intending  planters  had  to  buy  their  land  from 
natives  and  run  the  risk  that  their  titles  might  not 
be  recognised,  as  the  natives'  claim  to  land  had  not 
yet  been  adjudicated — which  means,  of  course,  that, 
as  elsewhere,  the  land  had  been  "confiscated"; 
though  it  did  not  suit  German  policy  immediately 
to  take  it  out  of  the  hands  of  the  natives. 

The  products  grown  on  the  European  plantations 
by  ^what  has  passed  from  actual  to  semi-slave 
labour,  are  principally  coffee,  rubber,  cotton,  and 
sisal  hemp.  The  European  products  were  heavily 
subsidised. 

The  natives  contribute  from  the  natural  resources 
•f  the  country  grain,  medicinal  herbs,  copal,  bees- 


loa    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

wax,  hides,  wild  coffee,  wild  rubber,  palm-oil, 
copra,  and  dairy  products.  They  have  been 
encouraged  in  every  way  to  increase  their  produc- 
tion of  raw  materials  by  brutality  and  terrorism, 
which  almost  depopulated  the  Ruanda  country, 
and  by  instruction  in  the  methods  of  growing  and 
collecting. 

A  translation  in  the  journal  of  the  African  Society 
quotes  Hans  Zache  in  "  Dressig  jahre  Deutsch- 
Ost- Africa  "  (Thirty  years  of  German  East  Africa) : 
"It  is  a  falsely  reasoned  and  falsely  proved 
humanitarianism  which  seeks  to  take  no  cognisance 
of  the  education  of  the  native  for  manual  work. 
Work  is  provided  by  the  European  planters  so  that 
the  Colony  may  benefit  by  increased  production, 
and  not  least  also  is  it  provided  for  the  blessing  of 
the  negro." 

The  blessing  is  not  altogether  so  apparent  to 
the  negro,  regarded  in  conjunction  with  the  fruit 
of  his  labour — usually  dishonourable  stripes. 

The  European  plantations  are  in  the  hands  of 
758  planters,  and  cover  an  area  of  about  250,000 
acres — of  which  80,000  were  planted  with  rubber, 
50,000  with  sisal,  and  35,000  with  cotton;  while 
1,000,000  cocoa-nut  trees  were  also  put  in. 

Ivory,  which  for  years  was  the  chief  article  of 
export,  has  given  place  to  sisal;  and  in  1913  the 
value  of  sisal  hemp  exported  approached  ^500,000, 
rubber  taking  second  place  with  .£325,000. 

Sisal  culture  in  East  Africa  is  of  recent  origin, 


EAST    AFRICA  103 

and  was  started  in  German  East  Africa  with  a 
few  plants  imported  from  Central  America.  The 
cultivation  is  difficult  and  the  treatment  of  the 
leaves  equally  so,  but  millions  of  plants  now  exist 
in  both  German  and  British  East  Africa.  The 
exportation  of  sisal  plants  was  prohibited  by  the 
German  Government.  While  sisal  takes  about 
seven  years  to  mature  in  the  West  Indies,  it  takes 
only  three  in  East  Africa. 

In  contrast  to  the  tropical  Colonies  on  the  west 
coast,  the  cotton-growing  is  chiefly  in  the  hands 
of  the  whites — not  solely  in  the  natives.  In  1912 
it  formed  the  principal  crop,  with  an  output  of 
i  ,882  tons. 

The  "  slump  "  in  rubber  proved  a  set-back  in  the 
economic  development  of  the  Colony. 

A  report  of  the  Consul  at  Dar-es-Salaam  states 
the  number  of  rubber  trees  planted  and  ready  for 
tapping  were  19,000,000. 

The  report  proceeds:  "  Owing  to  the  low  prices, 
all  the  plantations  have  limited  ihe  number  of  hands 
employed,  and  two  of  the  largest  suspended  tapping 
entirely.  The  planters  are  heavily  handicapped  by 
having  to  pay  the  costs  of  recruiting  labour  in  the 
interior  and  its  transport  down  to  the  plantation. 
The  costs  often  amount  to  about  ^2,  IDS.  per  head 
before  work  is  begun,  and  the  rate  of  wages  is  high 
— about  i6s.  6d.  per  month  for  a  Wanyamwezi 
tapper.  Owing  to  a  slight  rise  in  the  price  of 
rubber,  tapping  has  been  resumed  by  some  of  the 


io4    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

planters,  and  there  is  a  more  hopeful  feeling.  The 
small  planter  has  probably  a  better  chance  than  the 
large  company;  his  working  expenses  are  less,  he 
can  often  obtain  local  labour  cheaply  or  get  time- 
expired  hands  without  paying  recruiting  fees ;  and, 
in  addition,  he  can  keep  his  men  under  more  per- 
sonal control. 

"The  outlook  for  the  larger  estates  is  far  from 
reassuring,  and  it  is  said  that  some  of  them  have 
already  begun  to  cut  down  the  rubber  trees  to  make 
room  for  other  crops.  The  Colonial  Economic 
Committee  is  taking  steps  to  introduce  a  standard 
quality  of  East  African  rubber,  the  absence  of  which 
is  another  difficulty  which  has  hampered  the 
planters. 

"There  is  only  one  large  washing  and  curing 
factory  in  the  Colony,  at  Muhesa,  though  there  are 
several  smaller  ones  in  Usambara.  Most  of  the 
planters  wash  the  rubber  themselves,  with  the  result 
that  it  has  often  to  be  done  again  in  Europe." 

The  natives  collect  rubber  from  the  wild  forest 
vines,  but  rubber  balls  sent  in  by  Europeans  and 
natives  alike  are  cut  through  the  middle  to  detect 
the  presence  of  a  core  of  leaves  or  other  foreign 
substance. 

Cotton  and  coffee  are  articles  also  jointly  pro- 
duced by  planters  and  natives. 

As  elsewhere  in  tropical  Africa,  cotton  grew  wild 
and  is  now  extensively  cultivated — the  value  ex- 
ported in  1912  being  ^105,000. 


EAST   AFRICA  105 

The  coffee  produced  by  the  natives  is  either 
collected  from  the  trees  which  grow  wild  or  by  cul- 
tivating the  indigenous  plants.  The  wild  coffee  has 
a  small  misshapen  bean,  but  is  excellently  flavoured, 
the  quality  of  the  bean  improving  with  each  year 
of  keeping.  The  value  of  coffee  exported  amounts 
to  about  ;£ioo,ooo  per  annum. 

On  the  highlands  oats,  barley,  and  wheat  are 
grown  successfully ;  and  other  articles  of  export  are 
hides  and  skins,  coming  chiefly  from  the  district 
round  Lake  Victoria  and  from  the  provinces  of 
Ruanda  and  Urundi,  which  abound  with  millions 
of  head  of  cattle  and  other  live  stock. 

The  slopes  of  the  highlands  are  covered  with 
short  sweet  grass,  and  are  well  watered  with  peren- 
nial streams,  which  might  easily  be  diverted  into 
channels  to  irrigate  the  land  below. 

Though  sheep  do  well  in  parts,  the  grass  in  the 
main  grows  too  coarse  for  any  small  stock,  and 
requires  feeding  down. 

The  cattle  are  still  nearly  all  in  the  hands  of  the 
natives,  but  the  Germans  turned  the  hides  to  profit, 
,£200,000  worth  having  been  exported  in  1912. 

The  exportation  of  cattle  is  prohibited,  but  traders 
from  Rhodesia  have  made  their  way  up  into  Ger- 
man East  Africa,  where  they  traded  cattle  from 
the  natives  at  prices  averaging  about  403.,  and 
managed  to  return  with  large  herds  of  the  quaint 
"  hump-backed  "  beasts,  known  as  "  Madagascar 
cattle,"  to  southern  Rhodesia,  where  they  found 


io6    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

a  ready  market  at  an  average  price  of  about 
£l>  ios. 

Horses  do  fairly  well  in  parts  of  the  country  only, 
but  a  small  variety  of  extremely  hardy  and  strong 
donkey  is  plentiful ;  and  these  are  most  useful  for 
transport  work,  being  able  it  seems  to  live  on  the 
memory  of  a  pannikin  of  maize,  and  capable  of 
being  packed  with  any  weight. 

The  cultivation  of  chillies  and  pea-nuts  is  exclu- 
sively a  native  industry,  and  the  export  of  pea-nuts 
in  1912  amounted  to  ^62,500. 

The  collection  of  palm-oil  and  copra,  too,  is  in 
native  hands,  the  nuts  being  collected  from  the 
wild  palms  which  grow  in  their  thousands  on  the 
coast  belts. 

The  European  planters  in  recent  years  com- 
menced cocoa-nut  palm  cultivation,  but  the  million 
trees  planted  have  not  yet  come  to  maturity. 

Gum-copal,  the  resin  of  an  indigenous  tree,  used 
for  varnishing,  and  the  wax  of  wild  bees  is  also 
collected  by  the  natives  in  the  forests,  and  the 
export  of  beeswax  in  recent  years  has  averaged 
about  ^"50,000. 

This  system  of  collection  by  natives  means  the 
reduction  of  economic  resources,  as  in  collecting 
wild  rubber  the  vines  are  destroyed  and  so  are  the 
swarms  of  bees  in  the  search  for  wax. 

There  are  other  trees  capable  of  commercial 
exploitation,  such  as  the  baobab  (cream  of  tartar 
tree),  cazou,  the  nuts  of  which  are  largely  exported 


EAST   AFRICA  107 

from  Jamaica,  and  wattle,  the  bark  of  which 
produces  tannin. 

The  timber  possibilities  are  great,  as  large  forests 
of  cedar  exist  and  a  certain  amount  has  been 
exported. 

The  geological  formation  is  similar  to  British 
East  Africa;  and  although  prospecting  for  minerals 
is  not  encouraged,  gold  in  payable  quantities  has 
been  discovered  and  worked,  and  gold  to  the  value 
of  about  ,£30,000  has  been  exported  annually  for 
some  years. 

Mica  of  good  quality  is  found  in  the  Uluguru 
Mountains  on  the  Tanganyika  railway  about  124 
miles  from  Dar-es-Salaam ,  and  about  100  tons  are 
exported  annually. 

A  promising  proposition  exists  at  Magadi  in  a 
large  lake  of  carbonate  of  soda,  which  a  British 
company  has  endeavoured  to  secure.  In  time  this 
should  prove  one  of  the  principal  industries,  as  the 
deposit  appears  to  be  unlimited.  The  inter-native 
trade  does  not  amount  to  much,  as  in  this  direction 
the  Indian  can  compete  with  and  outreach  even 
the  German. 

As  a  "  commercial  "  Colony  for  the  production 
of  raw  materials,  the  Germans  looked  upon  their 
East  African  territory  as  the  jewel  of  their 
possessions. 

It  was  intended  to  give  in  August,  1914,  a  demon- 
stration of  the  economic  life  of  the  Colony,  and  to 
hold  at  Dar-es-Salaam  an  exhibition  for  the  whole 


io6    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

country,  to  be  connected  with  the  opening  of  the 
working  of  the  whole  length  of  the  Tanganyika 
railway. 

The  exhibition  was  to  have  been  held  under  the 
patronage  and  graced  by  the  presence  of  the  Ger- 
man Crown  Prince,  and  festivities  extending  over 
a  fortnight  were  arranged  for.  German  firms  were 
to  have  sent  a  large  number  of  exhibits,  and 
numbers  of  visitors  from  Europe  were  expected. 
Visitors  have  certainly  since  arrived,  but  not  in  the 
guise  it  was  anticipated. 

On  8th  August,  1914,  H.M.S.  Pegasus  and 
Asiraea  appeared  before  Dar-es-Salaam  and  pro- 
ceeded to  destroy  the  powerful  wireless  station,  and 
in  a  few  hours  the  town  and  several  liners  in 
the  harbour  surrendered. 

The  Pegasus  was  subsequently  attacked  by  the 
Koenigsberg  while  the  former  was  at  anchor,  and 
being  outranged  was  destroyed. 

The  Kcenigsberg  did  not,  however,  have  a  long 
spell  of  libeity,  for  she  was  shortly  afterwards  dis- 
covered by  H.M.S.  Chatham  hiding  in  shoal  water, 
sheltered  from  view  by  dense  palms,  about  six  miles 
up  the  Rufigi  River  opposite  Mafia  Island,  and  put 
out  of  action. 

Meanwhile  British  forces  composed  of  Sikhs, 
other  Indian  troops,  and  King's  African  Rifles, 
whose  headquarters  are  Zanzibar,  proceeded  from 
British  Central  and  British  East  Africa  to  occupy 
tht  German  territory. 


CHAPTER    IV 

TOGOLAND    AND    KAMERUN 

WHEN  the  Germans  entered  rhe  field  of  Colonial 
enterprise  in  1884,  the  European  Powers  chiefly 
concerned  in  Africa  were  Great  Britain,  France, 
and  Portugal — the  latter's  connection  with  the 
Dark  Continent,  indeed,  dating  from  the  earliest 
days  of  its  modern  history. 

Portuguese  power  had,  however,  been  for  some 
time  in  process  of  decay,  and  her  influence  was  on 
the  wane. 

The  interests  of  France  were  centred  in  the  north 
and  north-west  of  the  continent,  while  Great  Britain 
was  supreme  in  the  south. 

The  adventure  of  Leopold,  King  of  the  Belgians, 
on  the  Congo  was  still  a  private  venture  in  the 
hands  of  H.  M.  Stanley,  and  bad  not  yet  borne 
fruit  in  the  shape  of  the  Congo  Free  State. 

British  and  French  had  been  actively  engaged 
in  operations  for  the  suppression  of  the  slave  trade, 
but  the  energies  of  the  two  countries  were  at  this 

time  being  devoted  rather  to  the  development  of  the 

109 


no    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

trading  stations  established  on  the  Gold  and  Slave 
Coasts  on  the  Gulf  of  Guinea. 

"  Spheres  of  influence  "  were  being  leisurely 
demarcated  by  France  and  Great  Britain — the  latter 
feeling  so  secure  in  her  position  that  she  hardly 
treated  seriously,  in  fact  scouted,  the  notion  of  being 
rivalled  in  her  supremacy. 

For  some  considerable  time  Germany  had  been 
making  an  effort  to  secure  a  portion  of  the  trade  of 
the  west  coast,  overcoming  the  difficulty  of  intro- 
ducing her  cheap  and  inferior  goods  by  giving 
them  English  and  French  trademarks,  quite  in 
keeping  with  the  best  principles  of  German  trade. 

Trading  stations  on  the  Gulf  of  Guinea  were 
established  by  Germans,  who  immediately,  employ- 
ing the  obsequiousness  which  has  enabled  the 
German  to  tread  many  an  unaccustomed  path, 
began  to  approach  native  chiefs  for  concessions. 

Nearly  the  whole  territory,  known  respectively 
as  the  Grain  Coast,  Gold  Coast,  Ivory  Coast,  and 
Slave  Coast,  was  beneficially  occupied  by  the 
French  and  British ;  but  parts  had  not  been  for- 
mally annexed  between  the  British  Colony  of  the 
Gold  Coast  and  French  Dahomey.  The  French 
really  had  a  prior  claim,  but  the  natives  were  con- 
tinually petitioning  the  British  Government  to  take 
them  under  their  protection. 

In  French  Dahomey  itself  Germans  had  estab- 
lished many  trading  stations,  and  began  to  pay 
particular  attention  to  a  strip  of  the  Slave  Coast 


TOGOLAND     AND     KAMERUN       in 

between  Lome  Bay  and  Popo,  including  Porto 
Seguro. 

Great  Britain  had  not  yet  awakened  to  Germany's 
real  intentions,  and  all  her  policy  was  accompanied 
by  procrastination  and  dilatoriness.  The  repeated 
petitions  of  the  natives  for  British  protection  were 
ignored  or  put  aside  "for  inquiry  and  considera- 
tion," pending  which  the  natives  received  no  reply 
to  their  applications. 

The  lesson  taught  at  Angra  Pequena,  where  the 
whole  of  the  south-west  coast  from  the  Orange 
River  to  Portuguese  Angola  was  lost  to  Great 
Britain  in  spite  of  the  strenuous  efforts  of  the 
Colonial  statesmen,  was  ignored;  though  it  must 
be  conceded  that  there  was  an  influential  section  in 
England  strongly  opposed  to  further  increasing 
Great  Britain's  responsibilities  oversea  and  thus 
hampering  the  Colonial  and  Foreign  Offices. 

In  the  month  of  June,  1884,  an  emissary  of  the 
German  Government,  Dr  Nachtigal,  was  dis- 
patched to  the  west  coast  of  Africa,  ostensibly  as  a 
Trade  Commissioner,  to  inquire  into  and  report 
upon  the  progress  of  German  commerce. 

Bismarck  having  decided  on  his  policy  of  "  Trade 
Colonies  "  under  Imperial  protection,  pursued  it 
vigorously  and  with  his  usual  diplomacy. 

He  immediately  acquainted  the  British  Foreign 
Office  with  the  fact  of  the  mission,  but  took  the 
opportunity  of  hoodwinking  Lord  Granville  as  to 
its  object — if  he  did  not  actually  disclaim  any  inten- 


H2     GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

tion  of  territorial  acquisition.  Dr  Nachtigal  pro- 
ceeded to  the  French  settlements  on  the  Ivory 
Coast,  and  interviewed  the  German  traders  there 
in  preparation  for  his  coup ;  thence  he  made  for  the 
thirty-two  mile  strip  south  of  Lome,  now  known  as 
Togoland,  and  on  the  5th  July  the  German  flag  was 
hoisted  and  the  territory  declared  annexed  by 
Germany. 

The  natives  accepted  the  position  quietly,  having 
been  impressed  with  the  greatness  of  Germany  by 
plentiful  gifts  of  firearms  and  spirits. 

While  the  coastline  of  Togoland  is  only  32  miles 
in  length,  the  area  which  the  Germans  claimed  as 
their  "  sphere  of  influence  "  widens  to  three  or  four 
times  that  width  in  the  interior. 

In  accordance  with  the  amazing  German  native 
policy,  the  next  step  to  annexation  was  terrorism — 
the  mailed  fist  under  the  glove  of  peaceful  trade, 
and  the  natives  were  "  taught  a  sharp  lesson." 

Germany's  action  in  declaring  a  Protectorate 
over  Togoland  met  with  protests  from  the  British 
and  French  Governments,  and  protracted  negotia- 
tions ensued  and  continued  for  some  considerable 
time;  in  fact  it  was  not  until  1897  that  the  boun- 
dary line  between  Togoland  and  French  Dahomey 
was  settled  by  a  Franco-German  agreement.  The 
western  boundary  was  defined  by  the  Anglo- 
German  agreements  of  1890  and  1899. 

On  the  south  of  the  Gulf  of  Guinea,  stretching 
from  Old  Calabar  to  the  French  Congo,  lies 


TOGOLAND     AND     KAMERUN       113 

Kamerun  (known  also  as  the  Cameroons)  off  which 
is  the  Spanish  Island  of  Fernando  Po. 

In  1842  the  French  occupied  the  Gaboon  and 
gradually  brought  under  subjection  the  country 
between  the  coast  and  the  Congo;  while  a  British 
mission  was  established  at  Victoria  in  Kamerun 
in  1858. 

The  country  had  for  many  years  been  explored 
and  opened  up  by  British  explorers  and  traders, 
and  the  British  flag  had,  in  fact,  been  hoisted. 
The  territory  had,  however,  never  been  formally 
taken  possession  of,  although  the  Dualla  native 
kings  had  for  years  petitioned  the  British  Govern- 
ment to  be  taken  under  their  protection.  At  the 
end  of  1883  our  Foreign  Office  decided  to  accede  to 
the  natives'  request,  and  to  establish  a  Protectorate 
over  Kamerun. 

Going  about  the  business,  however,  in  the  usual 
dilatory  fashion,  it  was  some  six  months  before 
instructions  were  issued  to  Mr  Hewett,  British 
Consul,  to  proceed  to  Kamerun  and  declare  the 
territory  annexed,  subject  to  the  willingness  of  the 
Dualla  kings  to  make  concessions. 

German  traders  had  strongly  established  them- 
selves in  the  territory  and  had  won  over  a  consider- 
able number  of  the  natives  by  the  usual  means  of 
bribery  and  unlimited  gin. 

Mr  Hewett  proceeded  to  Kamerun  to  find  that 
Dr  Nachtigal  had  forestalled  him. 

Immediately  after  having  hoisted  the  German  flag 

H 


u4    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

over  Togoland,  Dr  Nachtigal  at  Kamerun  com- 
menced negotiations  with  the  Duallas;  and  when 
the  British  Representative  arrived  the  German  flag 
had  been  floating  for  several  days  over  the  main- 
land opposite  Fernando  Po. 

Germany's  intentions  were  only  now  regarded 
as  serious  in  England,  and  by  Mr  Hewett,  who 
immediately  left  Kamerun  and  proceeded  to  make 
treaties  along  the  coast,  thereby  being  instrumental 
in  securing  the  delta  of  the  Niger,  or  that,  too, 
might  have  been  lost  to  England. 

The  acquisition  of  Togoland  and  Kamerun  by 
Germany  was  looked  on  as  a  triumph  of  diplomacy 
for  Bismarck,  who  was  reproached,  it  seems  un- 
reasonably and  peevishly,  by  Lord  Granville  for 
not  having  disclosed  the  real  object  for  which  Dr 
Nachtigal  had  been  sent  out.  It  is  remarkable, 
however,  that  in  view  of  Germany's  action  in 
South  West  Africa,  which  was  even  then  th« 
•ubject  of  correspondence,  the  true  purpose  of  th« 
mission  was  not  divined. 


TOGOLAND 

Togoland  enjoys  the  distinction  of  being  the 
smallest  and  at  the  same  time  the  most  prosperous 
of  the  German  Colonies.  The  Colony  is  33,700 
square  miles  in  extent,  with  a  coastline  of  only 
thirty-two  miles,  reaching  from  Lome,  on  the 


TOGOLAND     AND     KAMERUN       115 

border  of  the  British  Colony  of  the  Gold  Coast,  to 
Grand  Popo  on  the  boundary  of  French  Dahomey. 

The  French  Colonies  of  Upper  Senegal  and 
Niger  are  the  northern  boundary;  while  it  is 
bounded  on  the  east  by  French  Dahomey  and  by 
the  British  Gold  Coast  on  the  west. 

The  climate  is  tropical,  and  like  the  rest  of  the 
Guinea  coast  the  coast-belt  is  hot,  humid  and 
malaria-stricken,  such  as  is  generally  met  with  in 
low-lying  forest  country  or  on  the  coast  at  sea- 
level  anywhere  in  the  Tropics. 

Lying  behind  the  coast-belt  are  stretches  of 
dense  forest  containing  palms,  rubber  vines,  and 
considerable  quantities  of  timber  of  good  quality. 
Arising  farther  inland  are  high  and  extensive 
plateaux,  many  of  the  elevated  parts  being  free 
from  malaria  and  capable  of  yielding  quantities 
of  natural  products.  The  richness  of  its  natural 
resources  indeed  made  Togoland  almost  immedi- 
ately after  annexation  financially  independent. 

There  is  a  German  population  in  Togoland  of 
1  >537»  nearly  all  of  whom  are  officials  and  soldiers ; 
and  of  the  131  so-called  settlers,  the  majority  are 
plantation  managers  and  overseers. 

The  native  population  amounts  to  3,500,000, 
and  they  are  divided  into  numerous  tribes,  em- 
bracing many  degrees  of  kultur  from  raw  canni- 
bals to  comparatively  civilised  states. 

The  administration  is  in  the  hands  of  an 
Imperial  Governor,  surrounded  by  a  swarm  of 


u6    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

officials  and  a  local  council  of  unofficial  members, 
who  are,  as  a  rule,  the  representatives  of  merchant 
houses. 

Immediately  on  acquiring  Togoland,  the  Ger- 
mans commenced  sending  trading  expeditions 
into  the  interior,  and  extending  their  "  sphere  of 
influence"  inland.  A  central  trading  station  (Bis- 
marcksburg)  was  established,  and  a  trade  centre 
was  created  for  each  tribe.  Two  hundred  and 
twenty  miles  of  railway  have  been  built  in  three 
lines,  all  starting  from  Lome — one  80  miles  in  length 
to  Palime  and  another  120  miles  to  Atakpanie. 

Lack  of  proper  transport  facilities  has  retarded 
the  development  of  the  Colony,  as  owing  to  the 
lack  of  transport  animals  nearly  the  whole  of  the 
carrying  of  produce  is  done  by  natives. 

The  prosperity  of  the  Colony  is  entirely  due 
to  the  exploitation  of  the  natives ;  in  fact  the 
economic  life  of  the  country  depends  upon  the 
natives'  industry.  Nearly  the  whole  of  the  agri- 
culture is  in  the  hands  of  natives,  some  of  whom 
have  plantations  of  their  own.  Only  250,000 
acres  are  in  the  hands  of  Europeans,  and  less 
than  a  quarter  of  these  are  cultivated. 

The  hardships  inflicted  on  the  native,  however, 
are  forgotten  by  the  German  trader  in  his  excessive 
eagerness  to  get  as  much  as  he  can  out  of  him ; 
and  this  has  resulted  in  some  rubber-collecting 
districts  in  depopulation  and  a  consequent  falling 
off  in  the  production. 


TOGOLAND     AND     KAMERUN       117 

The  principal  exports  of  Togoland  are  india- 
rubber,  palm-oil  and  kernels,  cotton  and  cocoa. 
Tobacco  is  also  being  tried  with  favourable 
results. 

Rubber  forms  nearly  one-half  of  the  total  ex- 
ports, and  is  nearly  all  wild  rubber  collected  by 
natives  from  the  forest  vines — an  expensive  form 
of  production,  as  the  vines  are  destroyed  in  the 
process. 

Palm-oil  and  palm  kernels  (largely  used  in  the 
manufacture  of  nut  butter  or  margarine)  forms 
another  important  item.  The  nuts  are  collected 
mainly  from  the  palms  originally  introduced  by 
the  Portuguese  and  now  found  in  forests  for  many 
miles  from  the  coast. 

In  1911  the  export  of  palm  kernels  amounted  to 
13,000  tons,  but  fell  to  7,000  tons  in  1913  owing 
to  a  scarcity  of  native  labour. 

The  natives  of  Togoland  are  said  to  have  culti- 
vated cotton  in  almost  every  part  of  the  country 
from  time  immemorial,  and  an  average  of  about 
500  tons  is  exported  annually. 

The  Germans,  realising  the  importance  of  this 
article,  did  all  they  could  to  extend  the  cultiva- 
tion of  cotton.  The  cultivation  is  entirely  in  the 
hands  of  natives,  but  an  agricultural  school  was 
started  for  them  by  the  Government  to  train  them 
in  better  methods  of  growing  cotton,  and  they 
were  supplied  with  ploughs  and  other  agricultural 
implements  as  well  as  seed,  free  of  cost. 


uS      GERMANY'S  VANISHING  COLONIES 

A  certain  amount  of  cocoa  is  grown  on  native 
plantations,  335  tons  being  shipped  during  1913. 
The  natives  have  also  taken  kindly  to  a  new  crop 
in  the  shape  of  maize,  the  export  of  which  rose 
from  103  tons  in  1911  to  2,500  in  1913. 

Although  the  conformation  of  the  country  is 
very  similar  to  British  Nigeria  and  other  parts 
of  the  coasts  where  gold,  tin,  and  other  minerals 
have  been  discovered  and  worked,  the  Germans 
have  not  embarked  upon  the  enterprise  of  having 
the  country  prospected  for  minerals — a  probable 
cause  being  that  prospecting  entails  expenditure 
of  money,  and  to  the  German  this  is  the  negative 
purpose  of  a  Trade  Colony ! 

Besides  being  a  source  of  wealth  in  trade, 
Togoland  was  in  reality  of  great  strategical  value, 
being  connected  by  cable  with  Germany  and 
with  Dualla  in  the  Kamerun ;  while  Kamina  was 
connected  by  a  powerful  wireless  installation  with 
Dar-es-Salaam  in  German  East  Africa  and  with 
Windhoek,  the  capital  of  German  South  West 
Africa. 

On  26th  August,  1914,  Togoland  was  occupied 
by  the  Gold  Coast  Regiment  of  the  West  African 
Frontier  Force,  assisted  by  a  French  force  from 
Dahomey. 

The  Germans  destroyed  the  wireless  station  at 
Kamina  and  asked  for  terms,  but  eventually 
surrendered  unconditionally. 


TOGOLAND    AND    KAMERUN        119 


KAMERUN 

Kamerun,  on  the  Gulf  of  Guinea,  south  of 
Togoland,  and  bounded  on  the  north  by  British 
Nigeria  and  on  the  south  by  the  French  Gaboon 
(Rio  Campo),  comprises  291,000  square  miles, 
including  100,000  square  miles  ceded  to  Germany 
out  of  French  Equatorial  Africa  as  the  price  of 
the  Moroccan  Settlement,  under  the  Franco- 
German  agreement  of  1911. 

The  physical  features  are  very  similar  to  Togo- 
land,  but  much  of  the  interior  is  mountainous — 
the  foothills  and  fertile  slopes  being  covered  with 
dense  vegetation. 

There  is  the  usual  German  population  of 
officials  and  merchants — 1,871  in  number;  and  a 
native  population  of  2,500,000. 

While  not  so  prosperous  as  Togoland,  Kamerun 
has  nevertheless  been  developed  on  the  usual 
German  plan  of  officialism ;  but  the  natives  have 
not  proved  so  tractable.  It  is  possible  that  the 
Dualla  tribes  still  feel  the  disappointment  at  hav- 
ing their  petitions  for  protection  by  Great  Britain 
ignored ;  one  German  writer,  indeed,  speaks  of  the 
Dualla  natives  as  a  hindrance  to  progress. 

Kamerun  was  administered  by  an  Imperial 
Governor,  a  Chancellor  and  two  secretaries,  with 
a  local  council  of  three  merchants.  Professor 
Bttnn  pointed  out  that  there  are  ample  signs  of 


120    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

the  growing  strength  of  the  administration,  and 
gives  as  an  instance  that  there  is  a  yearly  increase 
in  the  number  of  native  criminals  brought  to 
justice.  The  ever-increasing  returns  of  the  hut- 
tax,  too,  which  in  the  Kamerun  has  nearly 
doubled  in  the  last  four  years,  is  pointed  to  as 
proof  of  increased  administrative  efficiency. 

Kamerun  stretches  into  the  interior  to  Lake 
Tchad,  in  the  direction  of  which  a  railway  has 
been  built  for  400  miles. 

The  trade  of  the  Colony  in  1912  amounted  to 
;£i, 629,895  imports  and  ^1,102,803  exports,  the 
latter  being  the  usual  tropical  products. 

Cotton  is  known  to  have  been  grown  and 
cultivated  round  about  Lake  Tchad  for  centuries, 
and  agricultural  experimental  stations  have  been 
established  in  the  lake  districts.  As  in  Togoland, 
the  agriculture  is  all  in  native  hands. 

Kamerun  has  been  held  back  by  transport 
difficulties  which  it  was  hoped  to  overcome  by 
building  railways,  and  railway  projects  were 
propagated  energetically  which  it  was  hoped  to 
carry  into  effect  shortly. 

The  usual  means  of  transport,  as  in  other  parts 
of  the  coast,  is  by  native  carrier;  and  the  villages 
are  therefore  grouped  within  a  reasonable  distance 
of  the  main  trade  routes,  paths  which  the  chiefs 
and  people  are  responsible  for  keeping  in  order. 

Palm-oil  and  copra  are,  as  in  the  other  West 
African  Colonies,  the  chief  articles  of  export;  and 


TOGOLAND    AND    KAMERUN        121 

palm  kernels  are  daily  coming  more  and  more 
into  use  in  Europe  as  a  substitute  for  butter, 
and  for  the  manufacture  of  cattle-food,  etc.  Two- 
thirds  of  the  copra  exported  from  Kamerun, 
amounting  to  ,£300,000  worth  in  1912,  went  to 
Germany  and  one-third  to  England. 

In  the  Colony  itself  five  oil  works  have  been 
established,  but  owing  to  lack  of  transport  it  is 
calculated  that  three-fourths  of  the  yield  of  the 
oil  palm  trees  is  left  to  rot  on  the  ground 
unused. 

The  forests  of  Kamerun  hold  an  immense 
quantity  of  trees  bearing  timber  of  excellent 
quality,  and  this  to  the  value  of  ^35,000  was 
exported  in  1912. 

Round  the  Kamerun  mountains  exist  large 
tracts  under  cultivation  of  cocoa,  of  which  4,550 
tons,  valued  at  ,£212,500,  were  exported  in 
1912. 

The  natives  have  been  urged  to  extend  this 
industry,  and  travelling  instructors  were  appointed 
by  the  Government  to  train  them  in  the  best 
methods  of  cultivation.  More  and  more  fresh  as 
well  as  dried  bananas,  too,  have  been  exported 
from  Kamerun,  and  this  trade  offers  a  promising 
field  of  enterprise. 

Ten  per  cent  of  the  exports  of  the  Colony  go  to 
England,  while  nearly  15  per  cent  of  the  imports 
are  of  British  origin. 

The  native  policy  is  in  the  Kamerun  worse,   if 


122    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

possible,  than  in  Togoland,  and  the  natives  have 
been  systematically  sweated.  While  the  revenue 
is  principally  obtained  from  customs  dues  and  a 
general  ad  valorem  duty  on  imported  goods  (with 
preference  in  favour  of  Germany  of  course),  a  poll 
tax  is  levied  upon  natives,  together  with  a  toll 
upon  those  using  Government  roads.  There  is 
every  reason  to  believe  that  the  Dualla  natives  will 
hail  with  delight  deliverance  from  the  German 
yoke. 

The  British  West  African  Frontier  Force  on 
25th  August,  1914,  crossed  the  Anglo-German 
frontier  from  Nigeria,  and  after  considerable 
opposition  and  suffering  appreciable  losses, 
advanced  on  Dualla. 

H.M.S.  Cumberland  and  Dwarf  had,  while 
these  events  were  taking  place  on  land,  recon- 
noitred the  mouth  of  the  Kamerun  River  and  the 
approaches  to  Dualla,  at  the  same  time  capturing 
a  number  of  German  merchant  liners. 

On  24th  September  French  troops  from  Libre- 
ville attacked  Ukoko  in  Corisco  Bay,  attended  by 
the  French  warship  Surprise.  The  French  and 
British  forces  combined  on  27th  September  in  an 
attack  on  the  towns  of  Dualla  and  Bonaberi, 
following  upon  a  bombardment  by  the  British 
ships;  and  the  towns  surrendered  unconditionally 
to  the  allied  force,  after  destroying  the  wireless 
station. 

Although   some    1,500  prisoners   were   takan,   * 


TOGOLAND    AND    KAMERUN        123 

large  portion  of  the  garrisons,  some  2,000  (whites) 
in  number,  managed  to  escape  to  concentrate  in 
the  interior.  Of  the  prisoners  500  were  handed 
over  to  the  French  and  the  remainder,  owing  to 
the  difficulty  of  feeding  them,  sent  to  England. 


CHAPTER    V 

THE    PACIFIC     ISLANDS 

OF  the  islands  in  the  southern  seas  where  the 
Indian  and  Pacific  Oceans  meet,  and  amongst 
which  Australia  forms  a  fifth  continent,  some  are 
mere  vaults  in  which  repose  the  relics  of  ill-advised 
and  vainly  attempted  ventures,  whilst  others  are 
fruitful  gardens  wherein  flourish  the  trees  whose 
sturdy  growth  testifies  to  the  good  seed  from  which 
they  sprang  and  the  skill  of  the  gardeners  who 
planted  them. 

The  Archipelagos  lying  south  of  the  China  Seas 
were  first  explored  from  the  west  by  the  Portuguese 
and  Dutch  in  the  sixteenth  and  seventeenth  cen- 
turies, but  the  steel  glove  upon  which  the  mailed 
fist  seems  afterwards  to  have  been  modelled  failed 
to  retain  a  hold  upon  the  territory  which  it 
grasped. 

The  Portuguese,  indeed,  abandoned  their  enter- 
prises in  the  southern  seas  in  favour  of  developing 
their  trade  between  Goa  and  the  east  coast  of  Africa. 

They  excelled  as  navigators  and  explorers,  but  the 

124 


GERMAN  COLONIES  IN  THE  PACIFIC,  1914. 
(Reproduced  b\  p«rmi*»ion  of  T%*  Times.) 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  127 

whole  of  their  history  shows  that  they  have  never 
formed  any  conception  of  the  principles  of  admin- 
istration. 

The  Dutch  concentrated  on  Java,  Sumatra  and 
Borneo,  and  ever  since  have  waged  war  with  the 
natives. 

It  seems  strange  that  both  these  nations  should 
have  decentralised  Colonial  interests  away  from 
their  home  countries,  in  striking  contrast  to  our 
own  country  which  has  pursued  a  policy  binding 
her  oversea  dominions  closer  and  closer  to  the 
motherland — a  policy  which  has  eventuated  in  the 
formation  of  a  comity  of  nations  firmly  united  by 
the  bonds  of  sentimental  tradition  and  common 
commercial  interest. 

The  Portuguese  made  Goa  the  centre  of  their 
East  African  and  Eastern  enterprises,*  and  the 
Dutch  placed  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  (while  it  was 
in  their  possession)  under  the  administration  of 
Batavia  in  the  Island  of  Java. 

The  spice  trade  attracted  adventurers  of  all  the 
pioneering  nations.  Spain  made  extensive  voyages 
of  discovery  and  plunder  in  the  South  Seas,  and 
their  galleons  for  many  years  provided  the  excite- 
ment of  the  chase  as  well  as  profit  in  "  double 
pieces  of  eight"  for  British  sea  rovers;  but  the 
Spanish  acquired  but  a  tentative  hold  upon  terri- 

*  Evpn  to-day  the  business  of  the  Portuguese  Colonies 
on  the  East  Coast  of  Africa  is  carried  on  with  Lisbon  via 
Goa. 


128    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

tory,  and  this  was  finally  released  by  the  Spanish- 
American  War  of  1901. 

The  legacy  of  Spain  to  the  South  Seas  was  the 
romantic  occupation  of  searching  for  wrecks  bear- 
ing cargoes  of  doubloons  and  the  abandoned  booty 
of  pirates,  which  they  seem  to  have  collected  for 
the  specific  purpose  of  burying  in  brass-clamped 
chests  on  uninhabited  islands  for  the  benefit  of  the 
adventurous  spirit  who  might  in  future  years  dis- 
play sufficient  enterprise  and  determination  to  find 
his  way  through  the  maze  which  surrounded  the 
prizes. 

The  latter  part  of  the  seventeenth  century  saw 
one  of  the  greatest  periods  of  British  activities  in 
venturing  trade  abroad,  albeit  it  often-times  took 
the  form  of  preying  upon  the  rich  cargoes  collected 
by  the  Dutch,  Spanish,  and  Portuguese  marauders. 
This,  however,  was  then  the  most  approved  and 
recognised  form  of  commerce. 

Direct  trade  in  Borneo  and  Sumatra  by  the 
British  was  commenced  in  about  1685,  and 
"factories  "  were  established  to  develop  the  spice 
trade  which  was  then  the  richest  of  the  East,  a 
cargo  of  pepper-corns  being  regarded  as  one  of 
the  most  valuable  that  could  avoid  a  meddlesome 
buccaneer  and  be  safely  brought  to  port. 

The  voyages  of  Captain  Cook,  whose  name  ranks 
high  amongst  the  pioneers  of  our  Empire,  and  who 
discovered  and  named  many  of  the  island  groups 
as  well  as  the  east  coast  of  Australia,  where  he 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  129 

hoisted  the  British  flag,  really  firmly  established 
British  interests  in  the  South  Seas,  after  strenuous 
struggles  with  the  Dutch  who  regarded  the  area 
as  most  particularly  their  "  sphere  of  influence." 

Through  the  last  decades  of  the  eighteenth 
century  British  influence  and  prestige  grew,  and 
the  apathy  of  the  statesmen  at  home  was  not 
allowed  by  their  sons  on  the  spot  to  interfere  with 
energetic  development  and  settlement  which  pro- 
ceeded apace. 

Coming  rather  late  in  the  day,  France  was, 
through  private  British  enterprise,  forestalled  in 
her  principal  designs  which  were  centred  on  New 
Zealand,  and  her  "  protection  "  was  only  extended 
to  some  small  island  groups  such  as  New  Caledonia, 
lying  between  Australia  and  Fiji,  and  for  which 
she  found  use  as  penal  establishments. 

The  big  prizes  of  the  Pacific — Australia,  Tas- 
mania, and  New  Zealand — had  fallen  to  the  heri- 
tage of  Great  Britain,  and  development  rather 
concentrated  on  these  magnificent  offshoots  of 
British  oak. 

There  were  other  important  groups  of  islands, 
however,  which,  although  locally  regarded  as 
natural  adjuncts  of  the  Australian  Settlements, 
were  not  definitely  taken  possession  of.  The  most 
important  of  these  were  New  Guinea  and  the 
Samoan  group. 

New  Guinea  is  divided  from  the  Queensland 
province  of  Australia  by  the  shoal-dotted  Torre* 


130    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

Straits,  about  90  miles  wide;   while  the  Samoan 
Islands  lie  east  of  Fiji. 

The  Portuguese  Magellan  was  the  first  dis- 
coverer in  the  sixteenth  century  of  New  Guinea 
(also  known  as  Papua),  while  the  new  name 
appears  to  have  been  given  to  the  island  by  Ortiz 
de  Retez,  who  laid  down  certain  points. 

During  the  centuries  succeeding,  New  Guinea 
received  frequent  visitors  representing  European 
nations,  amongst  them  Captain  Cook  and  Tas- 
man,  whose  name  is  perpetuated  in  Tasmania 
though  the  island  for  many  years  bore  the  name 
of  his  lieutenant,  Van  Diemen,  and  was  known 
as  "  Van  Diemen 's  Land." 

New  Guinea  was  also  frequently  visited  by 
Chinese  fishing  junks  in  search  of  beche-de-mer, 
or  trepang. 

The  Dutch  from  their  adjacent  settlements  in 
Java  and  Borneo  were  supreme  in  the  north  of 
New  Guinea  without  exercising  any  effective 
jurisdiction,  and  relied  upon  the  difficult  naviga- 
tion of  New  Guinea  waters  for  a  continuance  of 
their  exclusiveness. 

Towards  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century  they 
(the  Dutch)  had  practically  a  monopoly  of  the 
spice  trade,  and  were  extremely  jealous  of  any 
other  nations  obtaining  a  footing  in  spice  islands, 
where  their  monopoly  might  be  jeopardised. 
They  obstinately  refused  all  access  to  New 
Guinea ;  but  the  Dutch  barrier  was  broken  down 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  131 

by  emissaries  of  the  British  East  India  Company 
in  search  of  spice  islands,  and  in  1793  New  Guinea 
was  annexed  by  two  commanders  in  the  service 
of  the  company,  and  the  territory  was  thereafter 
regarded  as  an  adjunct  of  Queensland,  although  no 
steps  were  taken  for  an  administrative  occupation. 

In  1828  the  Dutch  erected  a  fortress  to  protect 
the  rights  they  claimed  in  New  Guinea,  but  this 
they  abandoned  in  1835. 

While  Samoa  and  numerous  other  groups  of 
islands  were  not  incorporated  in  the  dominions 
of  the  countries  whose  explorers  "  discovered " 
them,  and  their  savage  inhabitants  were  allowed 
to  continue  their  own  administration,  a  brisk 
British  trade  sprang  up  between  Australasia  and 
the  islanders. 

The  necessity  for  bringing  either  New  Guinea 
or  the  Samoan  group  under  direct  rule  was  not 
an  expediency  that  presented  itself  as  an  urgent 
one  to  either  the  Imperial  British  or  Australian 
Governments  as  long  as  fair  trading  conditions 
prevailed  on  harmonious  lines  and  the  lives  and 
private  property  of  British  traders  were  safe- 
guarded, until  in  about  1880  the  tips  of  the  ten- 
tacles of  the  German  octopus  delicately  spread  out 
to  seek  the  spots  whereon  to  plant  the  suckers  of 
trading  stations,  behind  them  the  unlidded  eyes 
of  Imperial  Protection  watching  to  gauge  the 
value  of  the  prize  and  the  parrot-beaked  maw  ready 
t«  grasp  for  the  satisfaction  of  Prussian  greed. 


132    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

A  flourishing  inter-coastal  and  island  trade  had 
long  been  established  by  the  United  States  of 
America,  but  until  1898,  when  they  annexed 
Hawaii  and  occupied  Samoa,  the  United  States 
adhered  to  their  doctrine  of  not  attempting  terri- 
toral  acquisition  outside  their  own  continental 
borders. 

By  1883  the  Germans  had  firmly  established 
themselves  commercially,  and  their  influence 
began  to  be  most  markedly  denoted  in  disaffection 
amongst  the  natives  and  in  inter-tribal  wars — 
notably  in  Samoa. 

In  this  year  the  British  New  Guinea  Colonising 
Society  proposed  an  expedition  to  Lord  Carnar- 
von, who  was  then  Colonial  Secretary,  but  the 
minister  declined  to  lend  his  support  to  an 
enterprise  which  he  considered  entailed  too  much 
risk. 

The  enterprise  was  imagined  in  collaboration 
with  supporters  of  Imperial  extension  in  Austra- 
lasia, and,  acting  on  their  own  initiative,  the 
Government  of  Queensland,  with  the  approval  of 
the  whole  of  Australia,  annexed  a  portion  of  New 
Guinea  to  her  dominions;  but  this  act  was  dis- 
avowed by  the  British  Government  and  declared 
to  be  "  null  in  point  of  law  and  not  to  be  admitted 
in  point  of  policy." 

Queensland  most  determinedly  represented  to 
the  Government  of  Australia  and  our  Imperial 
minister  the  danger  to  her  commerce  if  New 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  13$ 

Guinea  were  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  a  foreign 
Power  by  annexation. 

The  prospect  did  not  appear  alarming  to  the 
home  statesmen,  nor  did  further  annexation  of  the 
South  Sea  Islands  enter  into  their  scheme  of 
practical  politics;  and,  therefore,  when  the  pro- 
clamation of  a  Protectorate  over  the  whole  of  New 
Guinea  and  the  adjacent  islands  (including  the 
New  Britain  Archipelago,  the  Solomon,  Caroline, 
Palau,  Marshall,  and  Ladrone  Islands)  under  a 
High  Commissioner  was  determined  on  at  a 
conference  held  by  the  Australian  Colonies  at 
Sydney  in  1883  and  recommended  to  the  Imperial 
Government,  our  Colonial  Office  met  the  proposal 
with  discouragement. 

In  November,  1884,  however,  the  Home 
Government  was  persuaded  to  proclaim  in  New 
Guinea  a  Protectorate  over  the  region  lying 
"  between  the  I4ist  meridian  eastward  as  far  as 
East  Cape,  with  the  adjacent  islands  as  far  as 
Kosman  Island." 

This  brought  under  the  British  flag  the  southern 
portion  of  New  Guinea,  known  as  Papua,  only ; 
but  in  other  parts  of  the  islands  there  were  British 
settlements  originating  in  Australia  which  were 
left  under  no  effective  jurisdiction. 

In  December,  1884,  the  Germans,  having 
firmly  established  themselves  commercially  in  the 
Samoan  Islands,  began  to  definitely  and  form- 
ally annex  territory;  the  German  flag  was  hoisted 


134    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

in  the  northern  part  of  New  Guinea  and  on 
several  of  the  adjacent  islands,  and  the  German 
"  Colony  "  received  the  unpromising  name  of 
"  Kaiser  Wilhelm's  Land." 

The  Australian  Colonies  immediately  lodged 
an  indignant  protest;  but  arrogance,  overglossed 
with  suavity,  carried  the  day,  and  a  friendly 
agreement  in  regard  to  New  Guinea  was  made 
between  Great  Britain  and  Germany  in  1885, 
whereby  the  latter  assumed  administration  over 
the  northern  portion  of  the  island,  to  subjection 
of  the  jurisdiction  of  which  were  later  added  the 
Caroline,  Palau  and  Marianne  Islands. 

"  New  Britain  "  undertook  the  responsibility  of 
the  name  "  Bismarck  Archipelago  " ;  and  the  prin- 
cipal island  of  the  group  was  re-named  New- 
Pommern,  with  its  capital  at  Herbertshohe. 

In  1888  British  New  Guinea  was  constituted  a 
separate  Colony,  but  the  administration  was,  in 
1902,  placed  in  the  hands  of  the  Commonwealth  of 
Australia. 

Up  to  1884  affairs  in  the  islands  comprising  the 
kingdom  of  Samoa  had  proceeded  along  the  lines 
of  progress,  and  the  three  nations  chiefly  con- 
cerned in  the  Samoan  trade  (Great  Britain,  Ger- 
many, and  the  United  States  of  America)  were 
conducting  commerce  without  friction  until  the  Ger- 
mans felt  strong  enough  to  assume  an  aggressive 
attitude,  not  only  towards  their  trade  rivals  but  also 
the  native  Samoans  whose  property  they  coveted. 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  135 

The  German  influence  began  to  be  most  markedly 
denoted  in  disaffection  amongst  the  natives  and  in 
inter-tribal  wars.  It  was  in  1884,  indeed,  that  the 
German  pretensions  to  a  say  in  the  administra- 
tive control  of  Samoa  began  to  be  recognised  by 
Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  as  the  Ger- 
man faculty  for  instigating  disputes  amongst  the 
islanders  made  desirable  the  institution  of  some 
European  control  over  the  native  administration. 

The  affairs  of  State  in  Samoa  were  conducted 
under  the  rule  of  native  kings  (two)  and  chiefs,  but 
constant  feuds  and  bickerings  disturbed  the  tran- 
quillity of  the  islands. 

It  was  really  German  influence  that  was  the  dis- 
turbing element,  for  inter-tribal  strife  was  fomented 
in  order  that  "  repressive  measures  for  the  estab- 
lishment of  law  and  order  "  on  the  part  of  the 
Imperial  Government  might  elevate  German 
prestige. 

Apia,  the  chief  town  on  the  principal  island  of 
the  Samoan  group,  Upolu,  became  the  centre  of 
trade  of  the  eastern  South  Sea  Islands,  though  its 
chief  importance  to  the  outside  world  exists  in  its 
incentive  to  a  distinguished  memory.  Agreements 
were  made  by  the  Samoan  kings  at  various  dates 
with  Great  Britain,  the  United  States  and  Germany. 
Each  of  the  treaty  agreements  contained  a  "  most- 
favoured-nation  "  clause,  and  empowered  the 
foreign  state  to  form  naval  stations  and  coaling 

depots  at  various  parts  of  the  island  group. 


136    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

In  April,  1885,  it  was  deemed  advisable  by  the 
British  Government  to  appoint  a  Commissioner  to 
confer  with  a  nominee  of  the  German  Government 
upon  the  subject  of  British  and  German  interests 
respectively  in  such  parts  of  the  Western  Pacific 
Ocean  as  might  be  placed  by  either  Government 
under  its  special  protection,  with  a  view  to  recom- 
mending the  adoption  by  both  Governments  of  such 
principles  as,  in  the  opinion  of  the  Commissioners, 
might  be  applied  to  better  regulate  and  protect  the 
interests  of  their  respective  subjects,  each  within 
the  other's  region  of  jurisdiction. 

The  movement  was  inaugurated  by  the  German 
Government  and  was  the  old  game  successfully 
played  by  Luderitz  in  South  West  Africa  of  apply- 
ing to  the  Imperial  German  Government  for  its 
"  powerful  protection  "  as  soon  as  commercial 
interests  were  well  established. 

The  British  Commissioner  was  Mr  Thurston, 
who  seems  to  have  throughout  been  altogether 
dominated  by  the  German  nominee  and  to  have 
cheerfully  acquiesced  in  and  recommended  to  our 
Government  the  adoption  of  every  suggestion  put 
forward  by  the  German  Representative. 

The  Commission,  which  dealt  exclusively  with 
the  position  of  the  three  treaty  nations  in  Samoa, 
submitted  that  the  existing  unsettled,  state  of  affairs 
in  Samoa  under  the  native  kings  and  chiefs  was 
incompatible  with  the  maintenance  of  peace  and 
order  and  destructive  of  the  best  interests  both  of 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  137 

the  Samoans  themselves  and  of  the  foreign  resi- 
dents in  the  islands,  and  did  not  see  any  hope  of 
improvement  owing  to  the  long-standing  feuds  and 
•divisions  of  the  natives. 

They  recommended,  therefore,  that  a  real  and 
immediate  improvement  in  the  social  and  econo- 
mical conditions  of  Samoa  would  be  best  secured 
if  the  administration  of  the  native  Government  was 
assumed  by  one  of  the  treaty  Powers;  the  sover- 
eignty of  the  King  of  Samoa  and  the  independence 
of  the  islands  continuing  to  be  recognised,  and  due 
care  being  taken  by  pre-arrangement  to  secure  all 
rights  justly  acquired. 

As  an  alternative,  another  scheme  was  submitted 
for  reconstructing  the  native  Government  upon  the 
general  lines  of  a  Crown  Colony  Government. 

It  was  agreed  that  the  sovereignty  of  Samoa  was 
to  be  permanently  confirmed  upon  King  Malietoa 
and  his  heirs,  and  that  a  Council  of  Chiefs  (called 
the  King's  Council)  should  be  created  to  advise 
and  assist  the  King  in  the  administration  of 
government. 

Here  the  German  Commissioner  showed  the 
cloven  hoof  by  suggesting  that  the  Council  should 
consist  of  eight  members  :  four  native  Samoans  and 
four  Europeans,  of  which  latter  two  were  to  be 
nominated  by  Germany,  one  by  Great  Britain,  and 
one  by  America. 

By  virtue  of  their  treaty  the  Germans  set  up  a 
sort  of  Germano-Samoan  Council  for  the  special 


138    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

control  of  the  two  principal  harbours,  Apia  and 
Saluafata ;  but  the  establishment  of  similar  Anglo- 
Samoan  and  Americo-Samoan  Councils  was  hardly 
an  expedient  measure  if  friction  were  to  be  avoided. 

The  principal  object  of  the  Commission  was,  so 
far  as  Great  Britain  was  concerned,  the  suppres- 
sion of  inter-tribal  feuds  and  warfare,  to  maintain 
which  the  Samoans  were  bartering  away  their  land 
and  all  other  possessions  in  order  to  obtain  rifles 
and  ammunition.  Dr  Krauel,  the  German  Com- 
missioner, in  making  the  recommendation  that  the 
administration  of  the  native  government  should  be 
assumed  by  one  of  the  treaty  Powers,  suavely 
proposed  that  "  having  regard  to  the  great  pre- 
ponderance of  German  commercial  interests  in 
Samoa,  the  task  of  forming  a  better  administration 
should  be  entrusted,  in  the  first  instance,  to  the 
German  Government." 

On  the  alternative  proposal,  Dr  Krauel  thought 
that  this  commercial  preponderance  of  Germany 
should  meet  recognition  by  the  nomination  of  two 
German  representatives  as  against  one  each  of  the 
other  treaty  Powers  on  the  proposed  King's  Council. 

Mr  Thurston,  the  British  Commissioner,  was 
sufficiently  impressed  with  the  representations  of 
his  German  colleague  to  suggest  to  his  Govern- 
ment the  adoption  of  the  suggestions,  which 
meant  German  control  over  the  whole  admin- 
istration. 

Before  any  action   was  taken   upon   the  recom- 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  139 

mendations  of  the  Commission,  the  Germans  took 
matters  into  their  own  hands ;  and  on  3ist  December, 
1885,  King  Malietoa  was  driven  by  a  German  force 
from  his  seat  of  Government,  and  the  Samoan 
flag  hauled  down  by  German  forces  from  a 
man-o'-war. 

Inquiries  elicited  the  fact  that  "  the  object  of 
the  German  Representative  was  not  to  abolish  the 
Samoan  Government  by  force,  but  only  to  take 
reprisals  against  King  Malietoa." 

The  foundation  for  the  first  act  of  direct  aggres- 
sion on  the  part  of  the  Germans  seems  to  have 
arisen  in  the  sale  of  a  portion  of  Apia  to  an 
American,  who  transferred  the  deeds  to  a  German — 
the  purchase  price  being  only  five  hundred  dollars. 
The  land  was  looked  on  by  the  Samoans  as  the 
centre  of  the  seat  of  their  Government;  and  very 
rightly,  too,  as  it  covered  the  whole  harbour  of 
Apia. 

The  King,  Malietoa,  offered  five  thousand 
dollars  to  the  German  holder  to  rescind  the  sale, 
but  was  met  with  a  curt  refusal  of  his  offer; 
following  upon  which  a  German  proclamation 
was  immediately  issued,  drawing  attention  to 
alleged  grievances  of  Germany,  more  especially  in 
respect  of  the  violations  of  treaty  agreements,  and 
declaring  the  intention  of  the  German  Government 
to  take,  in  reparation,  "  possession  of  the  lands  of 
the  village  and  district  of  Apia,  in  which  is  included 
Malinuu  (the  seat  of  Government)  and  the  harbour 


140    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

of  Apia,  to  hold  possession  under  the  supremt 
control  that  was  under  the  Government  of  Malietoa, 
for  the  Government  of  Germany." 

The  Samoans  were  informed  in  the  proclamation 
that  it  was  only  the  "  municipality  "  that  was  being 
taken  possession  of,  and  the  document  concludes 
with  a  characteristic  Hohenzollern  touch :  "I 
beseech  you  to  be  at  peace  and  to  have  confidence 
in  the  Government  of  Germany  and  myself.  Then 
will  Samoa  indeed  be  happy  1  " 

An  impartial  inquiry  into  the  arbitrary  action 
of  the  Germans  was  suggested,  but  the  German 
Imperial  Government  temporised  the  while  a 
movement  was  set  on  foot  by  Germans  in  Samoa 
to  upset  the  rule  of  Malietoa  and  replace  him  by 
one  of  their  own  creatures  who  had  been  plenti- 
fully bribed  with  the  two  things  dearest  to  the 
native — spirits  and  firearms. 

King  Malietoa  was  informed  by  the  British 
Consul  that  an  inquiry  was  to  be  held,  and  that 
his  kingship  could  not  be  jeopardised,  the  three 
Powers,  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  America, 
having  jointly  agreed  to  recognise  and  maintain 
his  authority. 

To  subdue  the  ardour  of  the  more  impetuous 
amongst  his  people,  Malietoa  issued  the  following 
proclamation  to  the  Chiefs  of  Samoa  : 

"  CHIEFS, — I  call  upon  you  to  keep  quiet,  and 
not  to  entertain  foolish  fears,  for  the  English 
Consul,  W.  Powell,  has  assured  me  that  in  a  short 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  141 

time  Samoa  will  be  once  more  united  under  the 
Government  of  Malietoa,  for  England  does  not 
undertake  anything  which  she  does  not  carry 
through ;  and  all  that  England  undertakes  she  does 
carry  through.  What  Germany  does,  on  the  other 
hand,  is  merely  commenced,  and  is  not  concluded. 
Let  us  place  confidence  in  these  words,  which  will 
be  fulfilled." 

The  German  Ambassador  in  London,  in  discus- 
sing the  Samoan  question  with  our  own  Foreign 
Minister,  the  Earl  of  Iddlesleigh,  referred  rather 
bitterly  to  King  Malietoa's  proclamation,  and 
Lord  Iddlesleigh  readily  agreed  that  it  was  very 
offensive. 

A  further  joint  Commission  was  held  on  the 
affairs  of  Samoa  late  in  the  year  1886,  in  the  early 
months  of  which  Malietoa  had  offered  to  place 
Samoa  under  the  protection  of  the  United  States — 
which  offer  was  accepted  by  the  American  Consul, 
but  his  action  immediately  repudiated  by  his 
Government. 

No  workable  form  of  administration  could,  how- 
ever, be  agreed  upon  by  the  three  Powers — the 
reason  being  that  the  Germans  were  determined  to 
pursue  their  fixed  aim  of  acquiring  the  absolute 
control  of  Samoa. 

The  rule  of  Malietoa,  who  had  been  recognised 
in  authority  by  treaty  agreements,  was  irksome  to 
them;  and  towards  the  end  of  1887  they  demanded 
satisfaction  from  Malietoa  for  alleged  robbery  and 


H2    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

insults  to  German  subjects,  whom  they  declared 
had  been  attacked  when  returning  from  celebrating 
the  birthday  of  the  German  Emperor. 

The  required  redress  not  being  forthcoming, 
Malietoa  was  declared  deposed  by  the  Germans, 
and  one  Tamasese  was  set  up  in  his  place.  The 
English  and  American  Consuls  did  not  participate 
in  the  recognition  of  Tamasese. 

A  state  of  anarchy  now  prevailed  for  a  time;  and 
inter-tribal  combats  took  place  all  over  the  islands, 
centring  about  Apia.  An  insurrection  was  en- 
gineered by  the  Germans  which  was  headed  by 
Matiafa,  who  was  attacked  by  Malietoa ;  and  the 
opportunity  having,  as  the  Germans  considered, 
arrived  for  the  action  of  the  mailed  fist,  Germany 
declared  war  on  Malietoa. 

In  March,  1889,  relations  between  the  three 
Powers  became  extremely  strained  in  regard  to 
Samoa,  and  warships  of  all  the  nations  concerned 
appeared  off  Apia. 

The  story  of  the  hurricane  that  swept  the  harbour 
on  the  i6th  March,  in  the  teeth  of  which  the  British 
Calliope  alone  pounded  her  way  out  to  sea  and 
safety  to  the  ringing  cheers  of  the  American  sailors, 
is  stirringly  told  in  Robert  Louis  Stevenson's  "  A 
Footnote  to  History." 

The  Calliope,  fighting  the  tempest  and  making 
less  than  a  knot  an  hour,  upheld  the  traditions  of 
British  seamanship ;  while  the  ribs  of  the  German 
flagship  Adler  serve  the  purpose  of  providing  a 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  143 

mournful    monument    to    the    death    of    German 
ambitions  in  Samoa. 

Until  Samoan  administrative  affairs  were  finally 
settled,  her  history  consists  of  no  more  than  a 
record  of  squabbles  and  intrigues. 

Every  fresh  effort  only  demonstrated  more  clearly 
the  futility  of  control  by  the  three  Powers,  one 
of  which  was  fixed  in  her  determination  to  be 
supreme. 

A  convention  was,  indeed,  signed  at  Berlin  in 
1889  under  which  the  Samoan  Islands  were  declared 
to  be  independent  neutral  territory,  Great  Britain, 
Germany,  and  the  United  States  to  have  equal 
rights,  and  the  King  Malietoa,  who  was  a  strong 
opponent  of  German  claims,  was  again  recognised 
as  King. 

Matiafa,  who  had  been  stirred  into  insurrection 
for  their  own  purposes  by  the  Germans,  now  sup- 
ported Malietoa,  who  received  a  vociferous  welcome 
from  the  Samoans  on  his  return  to  Apia  in  his 
regal  capacity. 

Shortly  after  his  reinstatement,  however, 
Malietoa  wearied  of  his  office  and  resigned  his 
throne,  which  was  no  sinecure,  in  favour  of  his 
friend  Matiafa.  The  latter's  election  by  the  people 
was  necessary;  but  having  duly  gone  through  the 
formula,  he  assumed  the  sceptre  with  Malietoa  as 
"  vice-King." 

The  subordinate  position,  however,  was  unsatis- 
factory to  Malietoa,  and  by  concert  of  the  Power* 


144    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

he  was  reinstated  in  his  former  position — a  pro- 
ceeding which  Matiafa  strongly  disapproved  of, 
and  he  attacked  Malietoa  with  a  strong  force. 

The  Powers  again  intervened  conjointly,  and 
Matiafa  was  subdued  and  deported. 

A  further  rebellion  against  Malietoa's  rule  was 
suppressed,  and  the  affairs  of  Samoa  began  to 
present  some  appearance  of  law  and  order  when 
Mr  Henry  Ide,  an  American,  was  appointed  Chief 
Justice — a  position  of  great  responsibility.  He 
seems,  however,  to  have  been  over-strenuous  in 
his  dispensation  of  justice,  for  in  less  than  a  year 
his  repressive  measures  created  a  state  of  Civil 
War. 

In  November,  1894,  the  unsatisfactory  condition 
of  affairs  induced  the  Government  of  New  Zealand 
to  come  forward  with  a  proposal  to  establish  a  Pro- 
tectorate over  Samoa,  and  an  expressed  desire  to 
undertake  the  administration  of  the  islands. 

The  proposal  was  not  entertained  by  our  Home 
Government;  and  while  it  is  probable  that  such  an 
arrangement  would  have  met  with  the  approval  of 
the  United  States,  it  is  certain  that  Germany  would 
have  strenuously  objected. 

Further  insurrections  in  1894  brought  about  joint 
intervention  by  Great  Britain  and  Germany,  and 
the  bombardment  by  ships  of  the  two  countries; 
while  the  death  of  Malietoa  in  1898  necessitated 
another  naval  demonstration. 

A  serious  dispute,  which  might  havg  had  far- 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  145 

reaching  consequences  but  for  the  tact  displayed 
by  our  Consular  Service,  arose  over  the  election 
of  a  king  to  succeed  Malietoa.  The  claimants  to 
the  throne  were  Tanu,  son  of  Malietoa,  and 
Matiafa. 

In  January,  1899,  Chief  Justice  Chambers,  an 
American,  in  whose  hands  the  final  decision  lay, 
decided  in  favour  of  Tanu  in  accordance  with  the 
international  agreement  whereby  the  throne  was 
secured  to  Malietoa  and  his  heirs. 

The  decision,  however,  met  with  the  strong  dis- 
approval of  the  Germans,  who  instigated  Matiafa 
to  rebel ;  and  a  serious  outbreak  occurred,  in  the 
course  of  which  the  greater  part  of  Apia  was 
burned. 

A  force  of  British  marines  was  landed  from 
H.M.S.  Porpoise,  on  which  Mr  Chambers  and 
other  Europeans  took  refuge. 

A  provisional  Government  was  now  formed  by 
Dr  Raffel,  a  German,  and  President  of  the  Muni- 
cipal Court  of  Apia;  and  he  proclaimed  himself 
Chief  Justice  in  spite  of  the  protests  of  the  British 
and  American  Consuls 

The  Consuls  appealed  to  Captain  Sturdee  of 
the  Porpoise  to  assist  in  the  reinstatement  of  Mr 
Chambers,  and  he  sent  ashore  a  threat  to  bombard 
the  town  if  any  resistance  were  offered  to  Mr 
Chambers  in  resuming  his  seat  as  Chief  Justice. 

Mr  Chambers  was  opposed  by  the  German 
faction,  but  Dr  Raffel's  action  did  not  meet  with 


146    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

the  approval  of  the  Government  at  Berlin,  and  he 
was  recalled  in  February,  1899. 

In  the  meantime,  Admiral  Kantz  of  the  Ameri- 
can navy  arrived  on  the  United  States  cruiser, 
Philadelphia,  and  a  proclamation  was  issued  under 
which  Matiafa's  Government  was  declared  to  be 
illegal  under  the  terms  of  the  Berlin  Treaty. 

A  counter-proclamation  was  immediately  issued 
by  the  German  Consul,  Herr  Rose,  the  immediate 
result  of  which  was  that  Apia  was  surrounded  by 
a  strong  force  of  rebels,  and  riots  occurred — in  the 
course  of  which  R.  L.  Stevenson's  house  was 
looted. 

The  British  and  American  warships  opened 
fire  and  landed  forces  of  bluejackets,  who,  after 
some  severe  fighting  and  losses,  repulsed  the 
rebels. 

On  the  23rd  March,  1899,  Tanu  was  crowned 
King  of  the  Samoan  Islands  in  the  presence  of 
the  Foreign  Consuls,  with  the  exception  of  the 
Representative  of  the  German  Government. 

Matiafa,  with  German  moral  support,  continued 
in  rebellion,  and  several  Anglo-American  parties 
of  bluejackets  and  marines  were  ambuscaded, 
though  the  chief  rebels'  posts  were  captured. 

A  state  of  anarchy  now  prevailed,  and  another 
international  Commission  was  appointed  in  May, 
1899,  Mr  Bartlett  Tripp  (President)  representing 
the  United  States,  Mr  Eliot  Great  Britain,  and 
Baron  Sternburg  Germany. 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  147 

Mr  Chambers'  decision  was  confirmed  by  the 
Commission,  but  Tanu  had  wearied  of  his  king- 
ship and  voluntarily  abdicated. 

Further  fighting  now  occurred,  but  an  agree- 
ment was  signed  in  August,  1899,  by  the  three 
Powers,  under  which  the  kingship  was  abolished 
and  the  Government  of  Samoa  placed  in  the  hands 
of  an  Administrator  with  a  Council  of  the  Consuls 
of  Great  Britain,  Germany,  and  the  United  States, 
assisted  by  a  native  assembly  and  a  High  Court 
of  Justice. 

The  German,  Dr  Solf,  Municipal  President, 
was  nominated  as  Administrator,  and  Mr 
Osborne,  the  United  States  Consul,  was  ap- 
pointed to  act  as  Chief  Justice  in  the  place  of  Mr 
Chambers  who  had  resigned. 

Samoa  remained  under  this  triple  administration 
until  the  ist  March,  1900,  when  by  the  Anglo- 
German  Convention,  embodied  in  the  Samoa 
Treaty,  the  principal  Samoan  Islands  were 
annexed  by  Germany,  the  Tonga,  Savage,  and 
Solomon  Islands  came  under  the  rule  of  Great 
Britain,  while  Tutuila  and  the  adjacent  islands 
became  the  property  of  the  United  States. 

On  the  ist  March,  1900,  the  German  flag  was 
hoisted  over  Apia. 

Claims  for  compensation  were  presented  for  the 
destruction  of  property  during  the  Matiafa  rebel- 
lion ;  and  these,  having  been  submitted  to  the 
arbitration  of  the  King  of  Sweden,  were,  in  1902, 


148    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

adjudged  to  be  payable  by  Great  Britain  and  the 
United  States  of  America ! 

The  surrender  of  Samoa  to  Germany  was  a 
bitter  pill  to  New  Zealand,  and  the  Imperialist 
Premier,  the  late  "  Dick "  Seddon,  expressed 
himself  forcibly  on  the  subject. 

In  reply  to  the  letter  from  the  Imperial  Colonial 
Secretary  announcing  British  withdrawal  from 
Samoa,  Seddon,  who  had  looked  to  the  realisation 
of  the  dream  of  a  federation  of  the  Pacific  Islands 
under  the  hegemony  of  New  Zealand,  wrote: 

"  This  surrender  of  Samoa  will  in  future  be  a 
source  of  anxiety  and  entail  expense  on  Great 
Britain  and  the  Colonies  in  preparing  for  and 
providing  against  eventualities.  However,  now 
that  it  has  been  done,  it  is  necessary  that  imme- 
diately opportune  steps  should  be  taken  to  put  the 
islands  admitted  to  be  British  on  a  satisfactory 
footing.  Some  definite  action  of  a  forward  char- 
acter is  required  in  the  Pacific  at  the  earliest 
opportune  moment,  for  the  surrender  of  Samoa 
has  disheartened  the  natives  in  the  islands, 
disappointed  the  people  of  Australasia,  and  lowered 
the  prestige  of  Great  Britain  in  this  part  of  the 
world." 

SAMOA 

The  thought  of  South  Sea  Islands  conjures  up 
pictures  of  treasure-trove  and  pearls,  of  joy-rides 
on  turtle  back,  of  dusky  beauties  with  scarlet 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  149 

hybiscus  blooms  in  their  hair,  and  of  fat,   naked 
brown  babies  rolling  on  the  sun-kissed  sands. 

Readers  of  Robert  Louis  Stevenson  will  know 
Samoa  and  the  Samoans  as  he  knew  them,  and 
will  picture  the  life  on  the  islands  he  loved — gentle 
and  entrancing — and  breathe  the  soft  atmosphere 
undisturbed  save  by  the  gurgle  of  rivulets  flinging 
spray,  on  which  small  rainbows  dance,  over  lichen- 
covered  boulders  flanked  by  feathery  tree  ferns. 

Samoa,  Upolu,  Fanuatapu — the  very  sound  of 
the  names  has  in  it  the  cadence  of  the  murmur 
of  the  surf  over  coral  reefs  and  silver  sands,  or 
the  whisper  of  perfume-laden  breezes  in  tall  palms 
fringing  blue  lagoons. 

That  is  the  more  aesthetic  conception ;  but  there 
is  a  sordid  view  open  to  the  imagination  in  blood- 
spattered,  headless  corpses,  victims  of  tribal  fights, 
or  "  the  white  men  on  the  beach,"  in  turn  victims 
of  unbridled  passions  and  "  square-face  "  gin. 

The  beachcombers  of  the  South  Seas  have 
enriched  the  slang  of  our  language  with  the 
expression  "on  the  beach,"  or  "on  the  pebbly," 
to  denote  a  hopeless  financial  condition ;  but  as 
a  class  these  py jama-clad,  unlaced-booted  gentry 
represent  the  limit  of  degradation — the  bottom  of 
the  depths. 

To  natives  all  white  men  are  chiefs,  but  "  surely 
these  are  not  great  chiefs?"  asked  one  of  the 
Samoan  islanders,  indicating  the  whites  who  dream 
the  idle  hours  away  on  the  sandy  beach  of  Samoa. 


150    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

Papua,  or  New  Guinea,  again,  is  in  the  mind 
immediately  associated  with  fearsome  weapons  of 
warfare  made  of  carved  wood,  with  collections 
of  smoke-dried  human  heads  with  fantastically 
tattooed  faces,  and  horrid  feasts  at  which  the  piece 
de  resistance  was  sirloin  of  "  methody  "  mis- 
sionary. 

The  Samoan  Islands  are  perfect  in  their  beauty, 
and  all  the  conditions,  including  the  ease  with 
which  the  bare  necessaries  of  life  were  produced 
from  natural  resources,  conduced  to  a  dolce  far 
niente  sort  of  existence  amongst  the  natives,  by 
which  the  whites  also  became  infected. 

The  Samoan  group,  which  forms  the  entrepot 
of  all  the  islands  round  where  trade  is  carried 
on,  consists  of  fourteen  islands,  of  which  eight, 
Savaii,  Manono,  Apolima,  Upolu,  Fanuatapu, 
Manua,  Nu'utele,  and  Nu'ulua,  were  German — the 
remainder  being  British  and  American. 

Savaii  is  roughly  50  miles  long  by  10  miles  wide, 
comprising  some  650  square  miles;  while  Upolu, 
22  miles  east  of  Savaii,  comprises  about  340  square 
miles. 

All  the  islands  are  of  volcanic  origin,  and  rise 
to  rugged  elevations ;  while  they  are  surrounded 
by  coral  reefs  intersected  by  passages  through 
which  the  navigation  is  difficult  and  dangerous. 
Savaii,  rising  to  5,400  feet,  possesses  an  active 
volcano;  Upolu  reaches  an  elevation  of  3,200  feet; 
while  Tutuila,  separated  from  Upolu  by  a  channel 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  151 

36   miles    in    width,    is    2,300    feet   at    its    highest 
point. 

On  all  the  islands  there  is  a  certain  scarcity  of 
fresh  water  inland,  but  it  is  plentiful  on  the  lower 
slopes  and  above  high-water  mark  on  the  seashore. 

While  the  climate  is  moist,  it  is  never  excessively 
hot;  and  the  fertility  of  the  soil  is  such  that  it  is 
almost  a  drawback,  for  the  extreme  productiveness 
of  the  soil  obviates  the  necessity  for  strenuous 
labour  on  the  part  of  anyone  who  occupies  a  patch 
of  ground  whereon  to  grow  cocoa-nuts,  yams,  etc. 

On  the  Island  Upolu,  R.  L.  Stevenson's  home, 
is  Apia,  the  port  and  centre  of  Samoan  trade.  At 
Apia  Stevenson  died  on  the  5th  December,  1894. 
He  was  much  loved  by  the  Samoans,  and  was  by 
them  buried  on  the  top  of  Vasa  Mountain,  i  ,300  feet 
above  the  sea. 

Saluafata  is  the  next  harbour  of  importance ;  but 
both  Apia  and  Saluafata  are  open  harbours,  and 
during  the  months  of  January,  February,  and 
March  are  particularly  insecure,  owing  to  the 
hurricanes  which  prevail. 

The  Samoan  Islands  contain  less  than  600  white 
inhabitants,  and  the  native  population  is  a  little 
over  40,000.  The  natives  residing  on  Upolu 
amount  to  18,000,  and  on  Savaii  13,000;  while 
imported  labourers  total  about  i  ,500. 

The  origin  of  the  natives  is  obscure,  but  ethno- 
logical students  have  declared  them  to  be  closely 
allied  to  the  Maoris  of  New  Zealand,  and  to  hav* 


153    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

their  origin  in  China  ;  and  there  seems  to  be  no 
reason  to  doubt  their  judgment. 

While  cannibalism  was  prevalent  throughout  the 
islands  of  the  South  Seas,  its  practice  has  always 
been  denied  by  the  Samoans. 

By  nature  the  Samoan  natives  are  indolent,  and 
would  look  upon  any  uncalled-for  exertion  as  a 
midsummer  madness;  while,  to  the  Samoan  mind, 
the  idea  of  growing  food  such  as  cocoa-nuts,  etc., 
for  the  purpose  of  sending  it  away  and  selling  it, 
held  about  it  something  barbaric,  unhandsome, 
and  absurd.  There  is  for  him  no  conceivable 
object  in  growing  anything  more  than  is  neces- 
sary to  provide  daily  food,  and  consequently  he 
would  have  no  share  nor  parcel  in  such  a  practice. 

The  question  of  labour,  therefore,  has  always 
been  a  pressing  one  on  the  plantations;  and  to 
provide  this  Chinese  have  been  imported  under 
indentures,  and  by  Chinese  labour  all  the  work  is 
carried  on. 

From  the  time  of  their  first  gaining  a  footing  in 
Samoa,  the  Germans  began  to  oust  the  natives  from 
the  land ;  and  as  the  Samoans  could  not  be  got  to 
work,  plantations  were  established  under  German 
managers  who  proceeded  to  extract  from  it,  by 
means  of  the  cheapest  foreign  labour  procurable, 
as  much  as  it  would  yield. 

At  Apia,  which  Stevenson  describes  as  the  seat 
of  the  political  sickness  of  Samoa,  a  controlling 
German  firm  was  established  who  gradually 


THE    PACIFIC    ISLANDS  153 

obtained  possession  of  the  most  fertile  lands,  but 
their  titles  were  at  times  of  the  flimsiest. 

The  same  writer  describes  how  a  visitor  would 
observe,  near  an  ancient  Samoan  village  which  he 
had  been  informed  was  the  proper  residence  of  the 
Samoan  kings,  a  notice-board  set  up  indicating  that 
the  historic  village  was  the  property  of  the  German 
firm.  These  boards,  he  adds,  which  were  among 
the  commonest  features  of  the  landscape,  might  be 
rather  taken  to  imply  that  the  claim  had  been 
disputed. 

If  the  "  sales  "  of  land  from  the  natives  to  the 
German  firm  were  questionable,  the  Samoans  beheld 
in  the  firm  only  the  occupier  of  their  land,  and 
consequently  regarded  the  constant  raiding  of  the 
German  plantations  and  the  stealthy  gathering  of 
the  cocoa-nuts  merely  in  the  light  of  a  very  trifling 
peccadillo,  and  certainly  not  as  theft. 

Such  land  as  the  firm  was  unable  to  find  labour 
to  work  was  "  mortgaged"  to  natives,  who  were 
compelled,  under  a  penalty  of  imprisonment,  to 
sell  their  copra  to  no  one  except  to  the  mortgagee. 
The  firm,  which  Stevenson  describes  as  "  the  true 
centre  of  trouble,  the  head  of  the  boil,"  of  which 
Samoa  languished  thus  gradually,  got  into  its  own 
hands  the  practical  monopoly  of  trade. 

The  trade  of  the  islands  of  the  South  Pacific  was, 
as  previously  stated,  always  regarded  in  Europe  as 
a  most  valuable  one;  and  when  in  1711  a  monopoly 
of  trade  with  South  America  and  the  Pacific  Islands 


154    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

was  granted  to  the  South  Sea  Company  in  England, 
its  riches  were  popularly  looked  upon  as  illimitable 
and  the  shares  of  the  South  Sea  Company  stood  at 
one  time  at  a  premium  of  900  per  cent. 

The  bursting  of  the  "  South  Sea  Bubble,"  how- 
ever, was  the  end  of  monopolies  until  the  era  of  the 
German  firm,  whose  agents  gained  a  preponder- 
ance even  in  Fiji. 

The  principal  article  of  Samoan  trade  is  copra, 
and  the  value  of  land  is  assessed  according  to  its 
growth  of  cocoa-nuts. 

The  trade  was  eminently  suited  for  Germans,  as 
the  natives  readily  bartered  for  cheap  and  flashy 
goods  "  made  in  Germany." 

In  the  vicinity  of  Apia  uncultivated  land  is  worth 
from  ^15  to  £2$  an  acre,  and  cultivated  land 
planted  with  cocoa-nuts  from  £20  to  ^40 ;  while 
"  bush  "  land  faced  a  value  ranging  from  8s. 
toj£a. 

In  addition  to  palm-oil  and  copra,  Samoa 
yields  the  usual  tropical  products  of  cocoa,  coffee, 
tobacco  and  rubber,  as  well  as  vegetable  ivory. 

From  Samoa  the  export  of  copra  in  1912 
amounted  to  ,£200,000,  and  owing  to  the  increased 
utility  found  for  copra  and  its  steady  rise  in  price 
during  recent  years,  further  planting  has  ener- 
getically proceeded,  though  somewhat  interfered 
with  by  the  appearance  of  the  rhinoceros  beetle. 

The  pest  seems  to  have  been  introduced  in 
baskets  of  earth  in  which  rubber  stumps  were 


THE    PACIFIC    ISLANDS  155 

packed,  and  soon  obtained  a  firm  hold  upon  the 
plantations,  though  the  Samoan  Government  has 
made  strenuous  efforts  to  extirpate  it. 

"  The  larvae  usually  proceeding  from  eggs 
deposited  in  decayed  cocoa-nut  stumps  are  found 
in  large  quantities  six  to  twelve  inches  beneath 
the  soil,  in  masses  of  rubbish,  where  they  gradu- 
ally transform  themselves  into  beetles.  On  com- 
ing to  the  surface  they  fly  from  tree  to  tree  and 
feed  on  the  leaves,  especially  on  the  centre  leaf  of 
the  cocoa-nut  palm — the  heart  of  the  tree — which, 
being  eaten  up,  the  tree  dies.  The  eggs,  it  is 
said,  are  always  deposited  by  the  beetles  above 
the  ground,  and  turn  into  caterpillars,  which, 
boring  their  way  through  loose  soil  and  rubbish, 
then  become  larvae."* 

Rubber  is  of  comparatively  recent  introduction 
into  Samoan  production,  and  only  amounted  to 
'^646  in  1911. 

Tapping  really  only  commenced  in  that  year; 
and  though  later  figures  are  not  available  all 
reports  as  regards  the  quality  of  Samoan  rubber 
are  reassuring,  and  the  prospects  of  the  industry 
are  regarded  as  excellent. 

Cocoa,  however,  has  been  grown  for  many 
years,  and  in  1911  was  exported  to  the  value 
of  ^38,508,  despite  the  ravages  of  the  "  cacao 
canker,"  which  attacks  the  older  trees,  the  young 

*  From  H.   B.  M.'s  Consular  Report,   1910. 


i56    GERMANY'S   VANISHING    COLONIES 

ones  under  eight  or  nine  years  old  being  seldom 
if  ever  affected. 

Amongst  other  industries  is  the  collection  of 
phosphates,  the  value  of  which,  exported  from 
the  Pacific  Islands  in  1912,  amounted  to  ,£250,000. 

The  following  official  report  was  made  last  year 
on  the  phosphate  industry  in  the  islands  of  Nauru 
and  Angaur : 

"  The  Pacific  Phosphate  Company  in  1912 
shipped  from  the  islands  138,000  tons  (as  against 
90,000  tons  in  the  previous  year).  The  Company 
suffered  from  a  gradually  growing  lack  of 
labourers,  which  was  in  the  end  overcome  by 
the  importation  of  coolies.  At  the  end  of  1912, 
59  Europeans,  90  Chinese,  and  576  natives  of  the 
Protectorate  were  employed  in  the  phosphate 
mines  on  the  Island  of  Nauru.  The  works  were 
improved  and  extended  in  many  directions.  The 
Deutsche  Suedsee  Phosphat  Aktiengesellschaft 
exported  from  Angaur  54,000  tons  of  phosphate, 
as  against  45,000  tons  in  the  previous  year.  The 
total  annual  production  has  consequently  increased 
by  57,ooo  tons.  While  on  Nauru  Island  labour 
was  scarce,  on  Angaur  several  plants  had  to  be 
finished  before  work  could  proceed  to  the  full 
extent.  Labour  conditions  were  here  satisfac- 
tory/' 

The  imports  to  Samoa  are  principally  cheap 
"  trade  goods,"  and  include  large  quantities  of 


THE    PACIFIC    ISLANDS  157 

calico,  petticoats  of  which  are  worn  by  both  men 
and  women.  The  latter  purchase  white  dress-stuff 
and  have  them  printed  by  native  dyers  with  a 
dye  known  as  tapa. 

The  value  of  imports  in  1911  totalled  .£203,312. 

Galvanised  iron  has  grown  more  and  more  in 
demand,  the  wild  sugar-cane  disease  having 
nearly  destroyed  the  manufacture  of  the  pic- 
turesque native  thatch. 

New  Zealand  and  Australia  have  a  regularly 
connecting  line  of  steamers,  and  in  1913  a  better 
connection  was  provided  for  the  whole  South  Sea 
District  (by  the  Germans  of  course)  by  a  steamship 
line  from  Singapore  which  touched  New  Guinea 
as  well  as  Samoa. 

The  South  Seas  have  for  many  decades  been 
the  field  of  fruitful  labour  of  missionaries,  and  as 
a  result  of  their  work  in  their  native  schools  every 
Samoan  can  read  and  write  his  own  language. 
The  Government  had  a  school  for  white  and  half- 
caste  children  at  Upolu  in  which  they  were  taught 
English. 

After  annexing  Samoa  the  Germans  established 
a  Government,  taking  the  form  of  a  Government 
Council,  consisting,  besides  the  members  who 
occupied  official  positions,  of  eight  persons 
selected  by  the  Governor,  and  who  were  chosen 
from  the  leading  merchants  and  planters.  The 
votes  of  the  general  public  as  regards  the 
tlection  of  these  were  presented  to  the  Governor 


i58    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

for  his  information,  but  he  was  not  compelled  to 
act  in  accordance  with  them — the  votes  merely 
indicating  the  popular  wish  in  the  matter.  Up  to 
1912  two  councillors,  who  received  no  salary,  were 
Englishmen  but  subsequently  all  were  German. 

The  Germans  took  steps  to  get  rid  of  "  the 
white  men  on  the  beach/'  and  the  class  of  white 
who  dreamed  the  hours  away  there  were  dis- 
couraged by  a  deposit  of  ^25,  or  a  guarantee  for 
that  amount,  being  required  to  be  placed  in  the 
hands  of  the  collector  of  customs  before  strangers 
from  foreign  countries  could  land,  unless  they 
intended  leaving  again  by  the  next  or  following 
steamer. 

Up  to  December,  1912,  pleading  by  foreigners 
in  the  Imperial  Court  in  Apia  was  allowed  in  the 
English  language  by  persons  who  could  not 
speak  German,  but  this  was  then  stopped  and 
all  Court  proceedings  were  held  in  the  German 
language,  or,  where  those  concerned  could  not 
speak  German,  by  means  of  an  interpreter. 
Interpreters  were  provided  by  the  Court  for 
witnesses,  but  not  for  parties  to  suits  nor  for 
anyone  appearing  for  them.  In  the  custom-house 
and  post  office,  however,  English  was  still 
permitted. 

The  Government  was  extremely  anxious  to 
increase  the  use  of  the  German  language  in 
Samoa,  but  as  regarded  trade  and  commerce  the 
proximity  of  Australia,  New  Zealand  and  Fiji 


THE    PACIFIC    ISLANDS  159 

caused  the  knowledge  of  English  to  be  of  far 
more  importance  to  the  residents,  whatever  their 
nationality. 

NEW  GUINEA 

The  New  Guinea  (formerly  known  as  Papua) 
group  of  islands  comprise  Melanesia,  the  Samoan 
being  included  in  Polynesia. 

In  New  Guinea  the  British  territory  was  in  1914 
approximately  87,786  square  miles,  while  the 
German  possessions  in  the  north  of  the  principal 
island,  and  including  the  Bismarck  Archipelago, 
amounted  to  roughly  180,000  square  miles. 

German  New  Guinea  was,  upon  the  hoisting  of 
the  German  flag,  renamed  Kaiser  Wilhelm's  Land, 
New  Britain  became  Neu  Pommern,  and  New 
Ireland  took  the  name  of  Neu  Mecklenburg. 

Neu  Pommern  and  Neu  Mecklenburg  are  the 
principal  islands  of  the  Bismarck  Archipelago,  the 
area  of  which  is  estimated  at  48,000  square  miles. 

Lying  in  the  equatorial  region,  the  climate  of 
New  Guinea  and  the  Bismarck  Archipelago  is  hot 
and  humid,  and  the  seasons  may  be  roughly 
divided  into  the  comparatively  dry  period  of  the 
south-east  monsoon  from  about  May  to  November, 
and  the  rainy  west  or  north-west  monsoon. 

The  annual  rainfall  is  heavy,  being  some  150 
inches  on  the  sea-board,  and  far  more  on  the  high- 
lands which  intercept  the  moisture-laden  clouds. 


i6o    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

Like  the  majority  of  the  islands  of  the  South 
Seas,  New  Guinea  coastal  districts  are  infested  with 
mosquitoes,  and  malarial  fever,  which  affects  Euro- 
peans as  well  as  natives,  is  prevalent.  It  occurs 
in  more  or  less  severe  forms,  and  occasionally  ter- 
minates fatally.  The  eradication  of  the  mosquito 
pest  by  petroleum  spraying,  which  has  proved  such 
a  marked  success  in  the  Panama  regions,  is  now 
being  attempted  in  all  malarial-stricken  countries, 
and  will,  when  accomplished,  no  doubt  bring 
immunity  from  malaria  to  New  Guinea. 

The  coastline  on  the  mainland  of  New  Guinea  is 
fringed  by  coral  reefs  and  a  line  of  large  and  small 
islands,  and  is  indented  by  fine  bays;  but  to  reach 
them  the  navigation  is  extremely  difficult. 

In  the  narrow  passages  between  the  islands  and 
between  the  reefs  the  current  is  so  strong  and  runs 
so  continuously  for  days  at  a  time  that  a  sailing- 
boat  can  do  nothing  but  lie  at  anchor  waiting  for 
a  turn  in  the  tide,  and  some  have  had  to  wait  for 
a  fortnight  before  they  could  get  through. 

The  chief  danger  to  navigation  is  the  number  of 
coral  reefs  that  are  scattered  about  the  coast,  very 
few  of  them  charted.  Sometimes  there  is  enough 
water  to  make  it  safe  to  pass  over  them,  and  then 
the  coral  presents  a  beautiful  sight — snow-white 
with  long  branches,  or  bright-red  :  then  the  sudden 
drop  into  deep,  dark  nothingness,  at  the  edge  of 
the  reef  that  rises  sheer  from  bottomless  depths. 

The  islands  are  volcanic  and  the  Kaiser  Wilhelm 


THE    PACIFIC    ISLANDS  161 

territory  in  particular  is  very  mountainous,  the 
most  prominent  feature  of  its  configuration,  especi- 
ally on  the  east  coast,  being  the  magnificent 
mountain  ranges  which  in  places  rise  steeply  from 
the  narrow  fringe  of  the  low  coastal  lands. 

Snow-capped  mountains  and  volcanoes,  rising 
to  a  height  of  15,000  feet  or  more,  are  reported  to 
have  been  seen  in  the  interior,  which  is  still  con- 
siderably unexplored. 

There  are  a  large  number  of  mountain  streams 
on  all  the  large  islands,  but  so  far  no  navigable 
river  has  been  found  in  the  Archipelago. 

An  abundant  rainfall,  together  with  a  high  and 
equable  temperature,  has  produced  a  vegetation  of 
exceptional  luxuriance  and  great  variety.  While 
in  places  extensive  areas  of  grass  plains  are  found, 
the  hillsides  and  lowlands  are,  for  the  greater  part, 
covered  with  almost  impenetrable  forest,  contain- 
ing timber  trees  of  considerable  size  and  utilitarian 
value. 

Manioc  (wild  arrowroot),  yams,  bananas,  and 
other  tropical  fruit  such  as  paw-paws  are  cultivated 
by  the  natives,  while  sago  forms  a  staple  food  of 
the  inhabitants. 

Sago  palms  grow  wild  in  the  bush,  and  prior  to 
treatment  sago  is,  like  tapioca,  in  its  crude  state 
poisonous ;  but  the  Papuans  have  devised  the  means 
of  carefully  preparing  the  pith  of  the  palm,  and  by 
washing,  straining,  and  drying  rendered  it  fit  for 
food. 

L 


ita     GERMANY'S   VANISHING    COLONIES 

Until  the  end  of  the  flowering  period,  the  hollow 
interior  of  the  sago  palm,  somewhat  similar  to 
bamboo,  is  filled  with  a  starchy  mass  from  which 
the  growing  fruit  draws  its  nourishment.  The  tree 
is  felled  by  the  Papuans  and  the  pulp  scraped  and 
washed,  during  which  process  the  sago  is  separated 
and  sinks  to  the  bottom. 

Cocoa-nuts  also  form  an  important  food  factor, 
and  groves  are  found  everywhere ;  while  copra  and 
palm-oil  are  the  principal  articles  of  trade. 

Papuan  birds  are  noted,  and  amongst  the  numer- 
ous species  of  bird  life  the  bird  of  paradise  is 
particularly  notable  for  richness  of  plumage ;  and 
the  skins  of  bright-plumaged  birds  have  been  in  the 
past  extensively  exported. 

New  Guinea  holds  less  than  500  white  inhabi- 
tants, the  majority  being,  of  course,  German 
officials  and  planters;  while  the  natives  living  in 
all  the  islands  are  estimated  at  500,000. 

Papua  suffered  for  years  from  the  presence  of 
the  undesirable  "  white  men  on  the  beach,"  and 
wild  and  weird  tales  are  told  of  early  days  of  white 
men  with  nothing  to  do,  sitting  or  lying  about  in 
native  houses. 

The  Rev.  Henry  Newton,  one  of  the  pioneers  of 
later  civilisation  in  British  New  Guinea,  gives  the 
following  description  of  a  phase  of  New  Guinea  life  : 

"  The  storekeeper  would  go  to  bed  and  leave  a 
supply  of  liquor  handy  for  h\s  Hient^  to  dispose  of 
as  seemed  best  to  them. 


THE    PACIFIC    ISLANDS  163 

'  They  would  spend  the  night  drinking  and 
gambling,  the  empty  bottles  thrown  over  the 
veranda  would  form  a  fine  heap  on  the  ground, 
and  sometimes  one  or  two  humans  would  follow 
the  bottles  as  the  result  of  a  heated  but  discon- 
nected argument,  and  decide  to  remain  there  till 
the  morning.  The  storekeeper  and  publican  would 
count  up  the  number  of  '  dead-heads '  in  the 
morning,  and  divide  the  total  cost  amongst  those 
whom  he  had  left  to  enjoy  themselves  overnight. 

11  A  gaol  was  built  for  the  accommodation  of 
native  prisoners ;  not  thai  this  meant  there  was  no 
need  of  a  place  of  detention  for  members  of  the 
white  race.  Occasionally  a  white  man  had  to  be 
accommodated. 

"  One  man,  an  Irishman,  who  had  been  indul- 
ging not  wisely  but  too  well  and  had  decided  on 
open-air  treatment,  was  lying  asleep  in  the  street, 
and  it  was  necessary  to  remove  him.  A  detach- 
ment of  native  police  was  told  off  to  carry  the 
member  of  the  ruling  race  to  the  gaol. 

"  When  they  had  hoisted  him  on  their  shoulders 
and  were  marching  off,  the  unhappy  man  waked 
up  for  a  moment,  and,  not  quite  understanding  the 
situation,  said  '  Hullo,  boys,  what  have  I  done? 
Why,  am  I  a  hero?  '  "* 

The  native  Papuans  are  not  regarded  as  suitable 
for  work  in  the  Western  sense  of  the  word,  and  the 

*  *'  In  Far  New  Guinea,"  by  Henry  Newton.  Se«ley 
Service  &  Co.  Price,  i6s. 


i64    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

German  efforts  to  exploit  the  natives  have  not 
produced  very  successful  economic  results,  and  the 
import  of  Chinese  coolies  had  to  be  relied  on.  This 
resulted,  in  the  Pacific  Islands  generally,  in  a  traffic 
in  labour  which  roused  R.  L.  Stevenson's  ire. 

The  native  inhabitants  consist  in  New  Guinea  of 
a  number  of  races,  differing  totally  from  each  other 
in  appearance,  customs,  and  language. 

The  various  tribes  have  little  in  common  with 
each  other,  and  inter-tribal  wars  and  feuds  have 
been  continuous,  in  the  course  of  which  the  custom 
of  "  head-hunting  "  became  a  popular  pastime. 

Although  the  Samoans  strenuously  repudiate  the 
suggestion  that  they  or  their  ancestors  were  ever 
addicted  to  cannibalism,  the  Papuans  freely  admit 
the  prevalence  of  the  custom ;  and  although  they 
now  profess  to  have  discontinued  cannibalism,  the 
older  men  will  talk  confidentially  about  the  doings 
in  "  the  old  days,"  and  will  sigh  for  the  times  that 
have  been. 

The  natives  have  unbounded  belief  in  the  powers 
of  sorcerers  and  in  witchcraft,  and  are  more  easily 
held  in  control  by  superstition  than  by  any  appeal 
to  any  sense. 

The  hard  work — domestic  and  agricultural — is 
done  by  the  women,  as  amongst  most  native  races; 
it  being  beneath  a  man's  dignity  to  be  engaged  in 
any  other  labour  than  that  connected  with  warfare, 
sport,  or  the  provision  of  creature  comforts. 

The  Government  of  New  Guinea  was  vested  in  a 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  16* 

Governor  whose  seat  was  at  Herbertshohe,  pic- 
turesquely situated  on  the  shores  of  Neu 
Pommern.  The  town  was  the  most  important 
commercial  centre  of  the  Colony,  several  of  the 
principal  trading  and  planting  firms  making  it 
their  headquarters.  Round  about  it  are  situated 
some  of  the  best  cocoa-nut  plantations  in  the 
islands. 

The  official  language  was,  of  course,  German, 
but  English  was  also  spoken  or  at  least  understood 
by  all  European  residents  in  the  islands. 

In  the  intercourse  with  the  natives  the  weird  form 
of  speech  known  as  pidgin-English  is  in  universal 
use  throughout  the  South  Seas.  It  is  framed  on 
the  same  principles  as  their  own  languages,  and 
every  white  man  who  cannot  speak  native  seems  to 
fall  naturally  into  the  use  of  it.  So  universal  is  its 
use  that  in  German  New  Guinea  the  Government 
officials,  to  the  offence  of  their  kultured  minds,  had 
to  use  it  if  they  wanted  the  natives  to  understand 
them. 

In  their  anxiety  to  spread  the  use  of  German, 
this  must  have  been  particularly  distasteful  to  the 
officials,  especially  when  an  Englishman  who  did 
not  understand  German  found  a  medium  in  pidgin- 
English. 

Some  compensation,  however,  is  found  by  a 
German  writer  who  says  that  "although  it  is 
deplorable  that,  while  the  easily  learned  Malay 
language  might  be  introduced  with  advantage, 


1 66    GERMANY'S   VANISHING    COLONIES 

this  unlovely  dog-English  should  still  be  encour- 
aged, the  quaint  expressions  promptly  invented  by 
the  natives  for  anything  new  to  them,  amply 
demonstrate  their  ready  wit  and  furnish  a  constant 
source  of  amusement." 

But  if  "pidgin"  is  a  barbarous  perversion  of 
English,  on  the  other  hand  pidgin-German  is  a 
horror  hardly  conceivable. 

Of  all  the  island  groups  in  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
perhaps  none  offers  conditions  equally  favourable 
for  agricultural  pursuits  than  does  the  north  coast 
of  New  Guinea  and  the  Archipelago.  Lying  out- 
side the  cyclonic  belt,  those  devastating  storms 
which  are  largely  responsible  for  the  failure  of 
crops  in  Polynesia,  as  well  as  in  some  of  the  groups 
north  of  the  line,  need  not  be  reckoned  with,  and  a 
greater  fertility  of  the  soil  further  helps  to  make 
this  part  of  the  Pacific  well  fitted  for  f  )pic*l 
cultivation. 

Cocoa-nut  growing  especially  proves  most  profit- 
able, but  cotton,  rubber,  cocoa,  coffee,  and  tobacco 
are  also  grown,  besides  spices  and  fruits. 

The  export  of  copra,  which  in  1912  amounted  to 
,£300,000,  has  steadily  increased  as  more  and  more 
land  was  brought  under  cultivation.  Other  articles 
of  export  include  phosphates,  pearl  and  tortoise- 
shell,  trepang,  sandal-wood,  and  vegetable  ivory. 

The  exportation  of  phosphates  in  1912  amounted 
to  about  ,£250,000,  and  with  copra  made  up  90  per 
cent  of  the  exports. 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  167 

Skins  of  birds  of  paradise  were  exported  from 
Kaiser  Wilhelm's  Land  in  1912  to  the  value  of 
.£25,000,  but  an  agitation  on  hand  against  the 
destruction  of  wild  birds  for  the  sake  of  their 
plumage  will  no  doubt  put  an  end  to  this 
traffic. 

Trepang  or  b&che-de-mer,  otherwise  known  as 
sea  cucumbers  and  sea  slugs,  are  an  important  food 
luxury  amongst  the  Chinese  and  other  Eastern 
people.  They  are  used  in  the  gelatinous  soups 
which  form  an  important  article  of  food  in  China. 
They  are  prepared  for  export  by  being  lightly 
boiled,  then  sun-dried,  and  finally  smoked  over  a 
fire.  A  small  English  company  is  engaged  in  the 
industry  of  trepang  fishing. 

While  timber  of  great  variety  and  excellent 
quality  exists  in  inexhaustible  quantities,  and 
although  there  are  small  saw-mills  in  Kaiser 
Wilhelm's  Land,  only  small  quantities  of  timber 
for  cabinet  purposes  have  been  exported. 

Traces  of  valuable  minerals  have  been  dis- 
covered. In  1890  gold  was  located  by  prospector* 
from  Queensland,  but  the  gold  veins  discovered 
have  not  proved  as  valuable  as  had  been  hoped. 

Oil  has  also  been  prospected  in  New  Guinea, 
but  its  exploitation  was  reserved  by  the  German 
Government.  The  analysis  showed  a  high  percent- 
age of  heavy  oil. 

The  imports,  amounting  in  1912  to  .£750,000, 
«onsist  chiefly  of  food-stuffs,  liquid  and  tinned, 


1 68    GERMANY'S   VANISHING    COLONIES 

machinery    and    iron    ware,    building    materials, 
clothing,  leathern  goods,  and  sundries. 

The  wants  of  the  natives  are  few,  however,  and 
little  trade  is  done  with  them  in  textiles,  the 
clothing  of  men  and  women  alike  being  usually 
composed  of  strips  of  cloth  with  plaited  grass 
girdles  and  a  profusion  of  shell  ornaments. 

On  15th  August,  1914,  the  advanced  detachment 
of  the  New  Zealand  Expeditionary  Force,  which 
was  ordered  to  seize  Samoa,  left  Wellington  at 
dawn  and  was  met  at  sea  by  three  of  His  Britannic 
Majesty's  cruisers  in  New  Zealand  waters — the 
Psyche,  the  Pyramus,  and  the  Philomel. 

As  it  was  known  that  the  German  armoured 
cruisers  Scharnhorst  and  Gneisenau  were  at  large 
in  the  Pacific,  it  was  decided  not  to  go  direct  to 
Samoa,  but  to  shape  a  course  for  New  Caledonia 
(French). 

Cruising  off  New  Caledonia  the  British  ships 
were  joined  by  the  French  cruiser  Montcalm  and 
by  the  Australian  cruisers  Australia  and  Mel- 
bourne. 

The  contingent  received  a  wonderfully  enthusi- 
astic reception  from  the  French  in  New  Caledonia, 
and  under  the  command  of  Admiral  Sir  G.  E. 
Patey  the  allied  fleet  steamed  for  Samoa. 

In  the  early  dawn  of  3Oth  August  the  first 
glimpse  was  obtained  of  Upolu — the  scene  of  wars 
and  rebellions  and  international  schemings,  and 
the  scene  also  of  that  devastating  hurricane  which 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  169 

wrecked  six  ships  of  war  and  ten  other  veeaels  and 
sent  142  officers  and  men  of  the  German  and 
American  navies  to  their  last  sleep. 

The  rusting  ribs  and  plates  of  the  Adler,  the 
German  flagship,  pitched  high  inside  the  reef, 
stared  at  them  as  a  reminder  of  that  memorable 
event. 

The  Psyche  went  on  ahead,  and  after  the 
harbour  had  been  swept  for  mines,  she  steamed  in 
under  a  flag  of  truce  and  delivered  a  message  from 
Rear-Admiral  Sir  George  Patey  demanding  sur- 
render. The  Germans,  who  had  been  expecting 
their  own  fleet  in,  were  surprised  at  the  sudden- 
ness with  which  an  overwhelming  force  had 
descended  upon  them,  and  decided  to  offer  no 
resistance  to  a  landing. 

In  a  remarkably  brief  space  of  time  the  covering 
party  was  on  shore,  and  shortly  afterwards  Apia 
was  swarming  with  British  bluejackets  and  troops. 
Guards  were  placed  all  about  the  Government 
buildings  and  a  staff  installed  in  the  Government 
offices. 

The  custom-house  was  seized  and  an  armed 
party  was  dispatched  along  a  bush  road  to  seize 
the  wireless  station,  the  tall,  latticed  iron  mast  of 
which  could  be  seen  rising  above  the  trees  some 
three  or  four  miles  inland  on  the  lower  slopes  of 
the  hills. 

Meantime  the  German  flag  that  had  flown  over 
the  island  for  fourteen  years  was  hauled  down, 


170    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

the  Germans  present  doffing  their  hats  and  stand- 
ing bareheaded  and  silent  on  the  veranda  of  the 
Supreme  Court  as  they  watched  the  soldier  in 
khaki  from  New  Zealand  unceremoniously  pulling 
it  down,  detaching  it  from  the  rope,  and  carrying 
it  inside  the  building. 

Next  morning  the  British  flag  was  hoisted  with 
all  due  ceremony.  The  troops  were  drawn  up  in 
three  sides  of  a  square  facing  the  court-house — the 
seat  of  the  new  Government.  Inside  the  square 
and  facing  the  flagstaff  were  Colonel  Logan  and 
staff  in  their  rough  khaki  uniforms,  with  them  the 
naval  Commanders.  On  the  left  the  high  Samoan 
Chiefs,  Tanu-Malietoa  and  Tamasese — who  had 
been  specially  invited  to  attend  the  ceremony — 
with  other  Chiefs  made  a  picturesque  group. 

Fifteen  years  ago  some  of  those  present  had 
»een  the  young  Chief  Tanu  placed  on  the  thront 
of  Malietoa,  with  the  representatives  of  the  allied 
fleets  of  Great  Britain  and  America  and  the  civil 
authorities  of  these  natives  in  attendance,  and  the 
Germans  conspicuous  only  by  their  absence. 

A  few  minutes  before  8  o'clock  all  was  ready. 
The  commands  to  the  troops  had  ceased  and  an 
intense  silence  had  prevailed.  Two  bluejackets 
and  a  naval  lieutenant  stood,  with  the  flag,  await- 
ing the  signal. 

Presently  the  first  gun  of  the  Royal  salute  from 
the  Psyche  boomed  out  across  the  bay.  Then 
slowly,  very  slowly,  inch  by  inch,  to  the  booming 


THE     PACIFIC     ISLANDS  171 

of  twenty-one  guns  the  flag  was  hoisted,  the 
officers  with  drawn  swords  silently  watching  it 
go  up. 

With  the  sound  of  the  last  gun  the  flag  reached 
the  top  of  the  flagstaff  and  fluttered  out  in  the  south- 
east trade  wind  above  the  tall  palms  of  Upolu. 

The  troops  came  to  the  Royal  salute  as  the  band 
played  the  National  Anthem. 

The  reading  of  a  proclamation  by  Colonel  Logan 
terminated  the  brief  but  finely  impressive  cere- 
monial. 

The  German  Governor,  Dr  Schutz,  was  sent  to 
Fiji  and  subsequently  to  New  Zealand. 

With  similar  ceremonies  Herbertshohe  in  Neu 
Pommern  was  occupied  by  an  Australian  force. 

On  the  i4th  September  the  German  cruisers 
Scharnhorst  and  Gneisenau  made  their  appear- 
ance at  Apia,  but  on  the  New  Zeaianders  manning 
the  guns  the  ships  left  for  the  open  Pacific. 

A  German  merchant  ship  was  at  the  time  at 
Pango-Pango  in  the  American  island  of  Tutuila, 
and  ten  members  of  the  crew  deserted  and  rowed 
the  seventy  miles  to  Apia,  where  they  hoped  to 
find  the  Scharnhorst  and  Gneisenau.  They  were, 
however,  arrested  by  the  British  authorities. 

A  British  administration  was  set  up.  The 
German  officials  in  the  old  administration  resigned 
their  appointments,  but  the  natives  decided  to 
continue  under  British  rule. 


CHAPTER    VI 

KIAU-CHAU 

IN  their  various  "  voyages  of  discovery "  and 
enterprises  to  extend  their  trading  operations,  it 
was  inevitable  that  the  European  nations  should 
endeavour  to  find  an  opening  into  China. 

From  being  a  dreaded  volcano  whence  streams 
of  lava  in  the  shape  of  devastating  hordes  con- 
stantly overflowed  to  upset  the  ideas  of  culture  as 
conceived  by  the  nations  who  radiated  the  prin- 
ciples of  "  civilisation  "  in  succession  to  the  fallen 
Empires  of  Greece  and  Rome,  China  had  retired 
into  a  seclusion,  only  to  be  disturbed  when  "  Pro- 
gress "  knocked  at  her  doors. 

She  shut  herself  in  and  literally  walled  her 
borders,  not  so  much  to  keep  out  invasion  but  to 
retain  for  herself  and  her  people  her  stoical  civilisa- 
tion and  the  secrets  in  the  arts  and  crafts  of  which 
she  was  the  sole  possessor;  for  Chinese  internal 
affairs  concerned  no  one  but  herself  and  her  people, 
and  her  peculiar  industries  were  conducted  ind 
perpetuated  on  an  apprentice  system— father  to  son 

172 


KIAU-CHAU  173 

handing  down  by  word  of  mouth  the  methods  »f 
•uccess  in  the  various  arts. 

As  European  nations  rose  and  fell — as  the 
grandeur  that  was  Spain  succeeded  the  glittering 
adventures  of  Portuguese  navigators,  as  the  Dutch, 
French,  and  British  struggled  for  mastery  on  the 
outer  seas,  and  while  Europe  resounded  with 
the  stern  music  of  the  tramp  of  Napoleon's 
legions,  China,  with  her  centuries  of  arrested 
civilisation,  maintained  an  inscrutable  attitude, 
and,  slumbering  in  brooding  silence,  preserved 
her  aloofness  from  any  interest  without  her 
borders. 

The  wave  of  European  trade-expansion  surged 
high  upon  her  barrier  of  inclusiveness  before  she 
u'voke  to  what  was  to  her  a  new  era — the  age  in 
which  man  might  demand  for  man  equable  treat- 
ment in  the  way  of  trade,  upon  a  basis  in  the 
constitution  of  which  China  had  no  experience  and 
no  say. 

Hitherto  China's  conception  of  outer  trade  was 
merely  the  collection  of  tribute,  and  her  first  asso- 
ciation with  trade  with  the  "  foreign  devils  "  from 
the  outer  world  w^as  quite  in  conformity  with  that 
idea,  for  her  piratical  junks  set  out  and  joyously 
exacted  toll  indiscriminately. 

But  this  \vas  hardly  the  legitimate  form  intended 
by  the  merchants  of  the  West,  and  compensation 
for  the  misconceived  acts  of  her  subjects  being 
demanded,  China  was  invited  to  subscribe  to 


174    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

treaties  which  might  open  her  doors  to  the  intro- 
duction of  more  cultured  methods  of  barter. 

Unreluctantly,  however,  as  China  assented  to  the 
development  of  trade  by  foreign  nations  in  her 
seas  and  along  her  coasts,  for  many  years  the 
severest  possible  restrictions  were  placed  upon 
Chinese  leaving  their  country  for  the  purpose  of 
trade. 

"  Treaties  "  were  concluded  with  the  Western 
nations  for  the  sake  of  peace,  but  by  the  Chinese 
in  general  these  treaties  were  regarded  as  mere 
subterfuges  whereby  to  disarm  the  vigilance  of  the 

Prey- 
Treaties  for  the  furtherance  of  trade  were  entered 

into  with  the  Western  nations  in  turn  from  the 
end  of  the  seventeenth  century  onwards,  but  none 
of  these  entailed  any  territorial  concessions  nor 
threatened  "  the  integrity  of  China." 

The  thin  end  of  the  German  wedge  seems  to  have 
been  inserted  into  Chinese  affairs  by  the  conclu- 
sion of  a  secret  treaty  in  1880  between  Germany 
and  China,  whereby  the  latter,  who  was  ready  to 
grant  or  promise  any  manner  of  concession  in 
return  for  being  left  alone,  gave  Germany  trading 
privileges,  which  she  had  already  granted  to  other 
nations.  But  Germany's  influence  in  China  was 
nil  until  after  the  Chino-Japanese  War  of  1894. 

Russia,  owing  to  her  geographical  position  and 
to  the  intercourse  of  her  subjects  with  the  Chinese, 
was  chiefly  interested  in  China,  and  the  Taiping 


KIAU-CHAU  175 

Rebellion  of  1850  firmly  established  France  and 
Great  Britain  in  the  exclusive  Empire. 

In  1894  war  broke  out  between  China  and  Japan, 
which  resulted  in  a  complete  and  decisive  victory 
for  the  latter. 

Peace  was  signed  by  Li  Hung  Chang  on  behalf 
of  China  at  Shimonoseki  on  the  iyth  April,  1895, 
and  the  European  nations  realised  at  its  conclusion 
that  in  Japan  a  new  Power  had  arisen  in  the  Far 
l^ast,  and  that  the  beginning  of  a  new  epoch  had 
begun. 

The  Peace  Treaty  entered  into  between  Japan  and 
China  in  1895  provided  for  the  absolute  indepen- 
dence of  Korea  which  had  been  a  vassal  of  China 
since  1882,  the  cession  to  Japan  of  the  Island  of 
Formosa  and  the  Liao-tung  Peninsula  at  the  foot 
of  which  lies  Port  Arthur  (which  was  then  occupied 
by  the  Japanese),  and  the  payment  of  an  indemnity 
of  .£30,000,000,  pending  the  handing  over  of  which 
Japan  was  to  occupy  the  Port  of  Wei-hai-wei  on 
the  Shantung  Peninsula. 

A  further  condition  of  the  treaty  was  the  open- 
ing of  certain  places  to  foreign  enterprise  and 
commerce. 

The  conclusion  of  this  treaty  brought  the  Euro- 
pean Powers  on  the  scene. 

For  some  time  Russia  had  been  intent  upon  the 
problem  of  securing  an  ice-clear  port  on  the  Pacific 
Ocean  as  an  outlet  to  her  Siberian  possessions— an 
ambition  which  was  considered  bv  British  states- 


176    GERMANY'S    VANISHING   COLONIES 

men  as  not  unreasonable — and  therefore  the  occu- 
pation by  Japan  of  all  the  coastline  of  Korea  by  no 
means  suited  Russia.  She,  therefore,  invited  the 
intervention  of  the  Powers,  and  the  invitation  was 
accepted  by  France  and  Germany,  but  declined  by 
Great  Britain. 

A  joint  note  was  then  presented  to  the  Tokio 
Government  by  Russia,  France  and  Germany, 
under  which  Japan  was  recommended  not  to  occupy 
any  of  the  Chinese  mainland  permanently. 

The  Japanese,  finding  this  force  arrayed  against 
them,  stated  that  they  "  yielded  to  the  dictates  of 
magnanimity,  and  accepted  the  advice  of  the  three 
Powers." 

Japan  gave  up  the  whole  of  her  continental 
acquisitions  under  the  war,  and  retained  only  For- 
mosa; so  the  "  integrity  of  China  "  seemed  to  be 
preserved  for  the  time. 

The  Japanese  people  were  shocked  at  this  inci- 
dent. The  attitude  of  Russia  and  France  they 
could  understand,  but  Germany,  who  had  been 
worming  her  way  into  Japan's  good  graces  by 
professions  of  friendship  and  who  was  wholly  unin- 
terested in  the  ownership  of  Manchuria,  seemed  to 
have  joined  in  robbing  Japan  of  the  fruits  of  her 
victorious  war  merely  to  establish  a  title  to  Russia's 
goodwill,  and  to  renew  the  good  relations  with 
Russia  which  had  been  broken  by  the  Franco- 
Russian  entente  of  the  years  1891-1895. 

In   pursuit  of  her  aim  of  an  outlet  to  Siberia, 


KIAU-CHAU  177 

Russia  assisted  China  in  the  payment  of  the 
Japanese  war  indemnity,  and  obtained  the  right  to 
carry  the  Siberian  railway  to  Vladivostock,  this 
giving  her  a  grasp  on  Northern  Manchuria.  By  a 
secret  arrangement  with  Germany,  Russia  subse- 
quently obtained  a  "lease"  of  the  Liao-tung 
Peninsula,  giving  the  assurance  that  Port  Arthur 
would  be  an  "  open  port  "  for  the  trade  of  all 
nations ;  but  as  it  transpired  that  Port  Arthur  was  un- 
suited  to  mercantile  trade,  it  became  solely  a  naval 
base  and  the  "  open  port  "  was  established  at  Dalny. 

On  the  20th  June,  1895,  France  entered  into  a 
convention  with  China  under  which  she  obtained 
certain  railway  and  mining  rights  in  Kiang-si  and 
Yun-nan,  and  the  signing  of  this  convention 
brought  China  into  conflict  with  Great  Britain. 

Great  Britain  could  hardly  regard  with  equani- 
mity the  growth  of  Russian  influence  in  the 
north ;  she  therefore  demanded  and  obtained  a 
lease  of  Wei-hai-wei  on  the  Shantung  Pen- 
insula, occupied  Wei-hai-wei  immediately  upon  its 
evacuation  by  the  Japanese,  and  threw  the  port  open 
to  outside  trade. 

In  the  meantime  Germany  considered  that  she 
had  received  no  reward  for  her  share  in  supporting 
France  and  Russia  in  compelling  the  retrocession 
of  Liao-tung;  in  fact  China  could  not  be  brought 
to  see  that  Germany's  place  in  "  world  politics  " 
entitled  her  to  annex  any  portion  of  the  Chinese 
Empire. 

M 


I7S     GERMANY'S    VANISHING    COLONIES 

On  ist  November,  1897,  however,  two  Roman 
Catholic  missionaries,  who  were  German  subjects, 
were  most  conveniently  murdered  near  Kiau-Chau, 
and,  ostensibly  to  get  compensation  for  this  out- 
rage on  German  kultur,  Germany  proceeded  to 
seize  Kiau-Chau. 

This  port  was  claimed  by  Russia,  but  on  the  fac« 
of  it  the  synchronical  cession  of  Port  Arthur  to 
Russia  points  to  the  two  countries  having  come 
to  an  arrangement  mutually  satisfactory  under 
the  secret  agreement  concluded  by  them,  while 
Russian  action  respecting  Port  Arthur  and 
German  action  in  regard  to  Kiau-Chau  tallied  at 
every  point. 

The  proceedings  in  regard  to  Kiau-Chau  were 
Hohenzollern  to  the  last  degree — arrogant  and 
theatrical . 

Three  German  warships  were  dispatched  to 
China  and  they  landed  marines  at  Kiau-Chau 
while  preparations  for  sending  out  reinforcement* 
were  hurried  on  in  Germany. 

The  squadron  was  placed  under  the  command  of 
the  German  Emperor's  brother,  Prince  Henry  of 
Prussia,  whom  the  Kaiser  designated,  in  a  fare- 
well speech  at  Kiel,  as  the  "  mailed  fist "  of 
Germany. 

The  German  Emperor  thus  furnished  a  pleasing 
fancy  for  humoristic  journalists  and  caricaturists, 
for  the  comic  side  prevailed  and  the  mission  rocked 
the  world  in  the  gentle  throes  of  laughter  rather 


KIAU-CH.-U'  179 

than  stirred  it  with  the  tremulou*  quaking  of 
dread. 

On  arriving  at  Kiau-Chau  with  his.  squadron, 
Prince  Henry  wrapped  the  mailed  fist  in  a 
parchment  covering,  demanding  the  "  lease  "  of 
the  town  and  the  neighbouring  district  to  Germany 
for  a  period  of  ninety-nine  years ;  and,  divining 
that  Germany  could  rely  on  the  support  of  Russia, 
the  Court  of  Pekin  had  no  option  but  to  bow 
to  the  inevitable,  and  the  lease  of  the  territory 
demanded  was  signed  on  the  6th  March,  1898. 

The  vShantung  Peninsula,  a  maritime  province 
of  China  on  the  Yellow  Sea,  is  the  most  densely 
inhabited  part  of  China,  and  is  celebrated  as  the 
native  province  of  Confucius  and  therefore  sacred 
to  both  Chinese  and  Japanese  followers  of  tht 
dictate  of  the  sage's  analects. 

The  peninsula  is  a  mass  of  mountain  ranges 
which  rise  to  a  height  of  5,000  feet.  The  ranges 
are  intersected  by  fertile  valleys  which  provide 
sustenance  at  a  minimum  expenditure  of  toil. 

Kiau-Chau  is  a  splendid  harbour  and,  in  regard 
to  Pekin,  of  great  strategical  importance.  The 
German  occupation  of  the  harbour  and  as  much 
of  the  surrounding  territory  as  they  could  bring 
under  their  influence  was,  they  declared,  only  to 
provide  a  gateway  to  China  and  an  open  door  for 
German  trade. 

The  trade  did  not,  however,  progress  under 
German  administration  of  the  territory.  There 


i8o    GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

were  no  means  of  transport,  and  until  railways 
could  be  constructed  the  port  could  only  supply 
and  draw  from  its  immediate  neighbourhood. 

Only  Germans  frequented  Kiau-Chau  and  trade 
decreased,  as  the  natives  cordially  disliked  the 
inquisitorial  ways  of  the  official  system. 

The  chief  value  of  Shantung  is  in  its  mineral 
deposits — principally  coal,  and  coal  easily  takes  the 
first  place  amongst  articles  of  export.  Iron  ore, 
gold,  galena  (lead  and  silver),  and  copper  are 
found  in  considerable  quantities. 

The  principal  agricultural  products  are  wheat, 
millet,  Indian  corn,  pulse,  arrowroot,  castor-oil, 
vegetables,  and  fruit. 

Wax  is  a  considerable  article  of  trade,  while 
aeri-culture  (silk)  forms  an  important  industry. 

Silkworms  are  fed  on  mulberry,  oak,  lettuce,  or 
vine  leaves ;  and  the  nature  and  quality  of  the 
silk  depends  upon  the  character  of  the  food.  The 
worms  fed  on  mulberry  and  lettuce  leaves  produce 
the  lighter  forms  of  silk,  those  on  vine  leaves  a  silk 
of  a  deeper  yellow  colour  verging  on  red,  while  the 
oak-leaf-fed  worms  produce  the  well-known  pongee, 
chifu  or  Shantung  silks.  This  latter  is  not  as  fine 
as  the  mulberry  or  lettuce  silk  but  is  of  more  prac- 
tical use  and  of  better  wear. 

The  soya  bean,  cultivated  so  extensively  and 
profitably  in  Japan,  the  oil  cake  made  therefrom, 
and  cotton  are  also  produced  by  the  Chinese  in 
the  Shantung  province. 


KIAU-CHAU  181 

The  exports  from  Kiau-Chau,  according  to 
Chinese  statistics,  amounted  in  1912  to  about 
,£1,250,000;  while  the  exports  reached  .£1,750,000. 

Germany  brought  under  her  sway  in  the  Shan- 
tung Peninsula  an  area  of  about  120  square  miles. 

The  German  population  in  Kiau-Chau,  exclusive 
of  troops,  was  only  about  2,100  in  1913,  but  the 
peninsula  was  strongly  garrisoned.  The  Chinese 
population  centred  about  Tsingtau  and  amounted 
to  nearly  54,000. 

Immediately  after  their  occupation  of  the 
Shantung  province  the  Germans  entered  into 
negotiations  (which  were  probably  conducted  in 
the  usual  Prussian  way)  with  the  Chinese  authori- 
ties, and  a  concession  was  granted  for  the  continu- 
ation of  the  Shantung  railway  to  a  junction  with 
the  great  cross-country  railway  Pekin-Hankau,  the 
German  object  being  of  course  to  establish  a  direct 
Kiau-Chau-Pekin  trade. 

In  1914  a  new  service  of  steamships  via  the  Suez 
Canal  from  Hamburg  to  the  American  Pacific 
coast  was  inaugurated,  and  the  liners  calling  at 
Tsingtau,  in  order  to  carry  goods  to  the  United 
States  and  Canada  without  reshipment,  provided 
a  fortnightly  service  for  Tsingtau. 

A  German  writer  says:  "The  mountainous 
neighbourhood  of  Tsingtau  is,  thanks  to  German 
afforestation,  beginning  to  get  a  different  character. 
Where  formerly  only  rough  open  country  was  to  be 
seen,  timber  and  orchards  are  filling  the  slopes. 


i82     GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

The  Chinese  work  voluntarily  for  the  Government, 
and  receive  payment  in  seeds,  shrubs,  and  trees  for 
their  own  property." 

The  Germans  made  every  effort  for  the  germani- 
sation  of  Shantung,  and  schools  were  established 
where  science  and  technical  science  were  taught; 
and  the  students,  according  to  the  same  writer, 
"  first  learned  German  and  in  this  way  became 
messengers  of  German  civilisation  all  over  China," 
for  which  blessing  China  has  not,  seemingly, 
exhibited  any  marked  degree  of  gratitude. 

Kiau-Chau  and  Tsingtau  were  fortified  and  made 
as  impregnable  fortresses  as  modern  science  could 
construct,  and  all  German  proceedings  indicated 
that  any  "  ultimate  retrocession  to  China  "  of  the 
province  was  extremely  problematical. 

The  outbreak  of  the  war  of  1914  gave  Japan  an 
opportunity  of  paying  off  to  Germany  both  the 
capital  and  accumulated  interest  of  the  score  she 
had  held  to  Germany's  debit  ever  since  the  latter's 
unwarrantable  intrusion  into  her  sphere. 

The  capital  consisted  of  an  announcement  in  the 
early  stages  of  the  war  of  Japan's  intention  to  take 
action  to  protect  the  general  interests  in  the  Far 
East,  "  keeping  especially  in  view  the  independence 
and  integrity  of  China,"  and  in  the  delivery  on  the 
1 5th  August  of  an  ultimatum  to  Germany. 

The  interest  was  provided  by  the  ultimatum  being 
couched  in  almost  identical  terms  with  Germany's 
ultimatum  to  Japan  sixteen  years  previously. 


KIAU-CHAU  183 

The  following  is  the  text  of  the  ultimatum : 

'  We  consider  it  highly  important  and  necessary 
in  the  present  situation  to  take  measures  to  remove 
the  causes  of  all  disturbance  of  peace  in  the  Far 
East,  and  to  safeguard  general  interests  as  contem- 
plated in  the  agreement  between  Japan  and  Great 
Britain. 

"In  order  to  secure  firm  and  enduring  peace  in 
Eastern  Asia,  the  establishment  of  which  is  the 
aim  of  the  said  agreement,  the  Imperial  Japanese 
Government  sincerely  believes  it  to  be  its  duty  to 
give  advice  to  the  Imperial  German  Government  to 
carry  out  the  following  two  propositions : — 

"  (i)  Withdraw  immediately  from  Japanese  and 
Chinese  waters  the  German  men-of-war  and  armed 
vessels  of  all  kinds,  and  to  disarm  at  once  all  those 
which  cannot  be  withdrawn. 

"  (2)  To  deliver,  on  a  date  not  later  than  I5th 
September,  to  the  Imperial  Japanese  authorities 
without  condition  or  compensation  the  entire  leased 
territory  of  Kiau-Chau  with  a  view  to  the  eventual 
restoration  of  the  same  to  China. 

"  The  Imperial  Japanese  Government  announce* 
at  the  same  time  that  in  the  event  of  its  not  receiv- 
ing by  noon  on  23rd  August  an  answer  from  the 
Imperial  German  Government  signifying  uncondi- 
tional acceptance  of  the  above  advice  offered  by 
the  Imperial  Japanese  Government,  Japan  will  b« 
compelled  to  take  such  action  as  it  may  deem 
n«ce*sarv  to  meet  the  situation." 


1 84     GERMANY'S   VANISHING   COLONIES 

The  ultimatum  caused  a  sensation  in  China,  as 
it  was  stated  that  China  was  fully  of  the  intention 
"eventually"  to  regain  possession  of  Kiau-Chau 
by  her  own  resources.  The  Chinese  Government 
in  perturbation  expressed  the  opinion  that  the  only 
course  for  Germany  was  to  cancel  the  lease  of  Kiau- 
Chau  and  hand  the  territory  back  to  China. 

The  United  States  of  America  intimated,  as  an 
expression  of  their  view,  that  the  United  States 
would  have  been  better  pleased  if  the  word  "  even- 
tually "  in  the  ultimatum  had  been  better  defined. 

On  the  23rd  August  Japan  declared  war  upon 
Germany,  and  immediately  proceeded,  with  the 
assistance  of  British  warships  and  men,  to  blockade 
the  harbour  of  Kiau-Chau  and  invest  Tsingtau, 
which  was  the  key  to  the  situation. 

The  German  cruiser  Emden  was  at  Tsingtau  on 
the  outbreak  of  war  and  got  to  sea  before  the 
blockade. 

The  Emden  had  a  short  but  by  no  means  in- 
glorious career.  Under  her  resourceful,  gallant 
and  courteous  Commander,  Von  Miiller,  she 
cruised  the  Bay  of  Bengal  and  destroyed  British 
shipping  to  the  value  of  over  ;£i, 000,000;  she 
bombarded  Madras,  causing  appreciable  damage, 
and  her  final  exploit  of  note  was  to  steam  boldly 
into  the  British  port  of  Penang,  disguised  by 
rigging  up  a  dummy  extra  funnel  and  flying  the 
Japanese  flag,  where  she  sank  a  Russian  cruiser 
and  a  French  torpedo-boat  destroyer. 


KIAU-CHAU  185 

On  loth  November,  however,  she  arrived  off 
Cocos  Islands,  and  while  a  landing  party  was  busy 
destroying  the  wireless  and  cable  apparatus  there 
she  was  discovered  by  the  Australian  cruiser 
H.M.A.S.  Sydney,  by  whom  she  was  engaged, 
driven  ashore  and  burnt. 

The  Shantung  German  possession  made  a 
strenuous  resistance,  but  after  two  months'  invest- 
ment by  land  and  blockade  by  sea,  surrendered  to 
the  joint  British  and  Japanese  force,  and  the  dream 
of  a  German  Empire  in  the  Far  East  was  dissipated. 

The  fall  of  Tsingtau  and  Kiau-Chau  was  a 
rending  blow  to  German  prestige  in  the  East,  and 
its  severity  excited  bitter  comments  on  this  extin- 
guishment of  what  was  in  German  papers  described 
as  "  a  shining  testimony  to  German  culture." 

Poor  old  kultur !  It  has  of  late  had  many  a  heavy 
burden  to  bear  and  is  now  entrusted  with  the  final 
destruction  of  Japan,  for  according  to  a  leading 
German  paper:  "The  Japanese  have  assisted 
England  in  destroying  the  most  brilliant  work  of 
German  colonisation  (save  the  mark !).  England 
will  reap  the  harvest  sown  by  her  short-sighted 
Government  in  a  time  not  so  far  distant. 

"  Germany  has  lost  Kiau-Chau,  but  not  for  ever ; 
and  when  eventually  the  time  of  reckoning  arrives 
then  as  unanimously  as  what  is  now  a  cry  of  pain 
will  a  great  shout  of  rejoicing  ring  through  Ger- 
many— '  Woe  to  Nippon.'  ' 

So  both  England  and  Japan  had  better  look  out. 


INDEX 


AFRICA,  EAST,  84 

,  area  and  features,  97 

,  British  explorers,  86 

,  German  exploitation,  98 

,        Germans        engineer 

rebellion,  95 

,  Germany  annexes,  91 

,         Germany         obtains 

Kilima  'Njaro,  93 
— ,  history,  84 

,       jewel       of       German 

possessions,   107 

,  Portuguese  status,  93 

,  products,  101 

,  railways,   101 

— ,  terrorism  of  natives.  96 

Africa,  German  wireless,  66 

Africa,  South  West,  36 

,  area,  69 

,  boundaries,  65 

— ,   British  operations,  82 

,  Herero  rebellion,  70 

,  physical  features,  73 

— ,  products,  74 

,  railways,  76 

Africa,  West,   109 

,  Germany  annexes  Togo- 
land,  112 

,    Germany's    entry   into, 

no 
,  history,  109 

Agadir  crisis,  30 

Angra  Pequena,   British   sub- 
jects' position,  55 

,  H.M.S.  Boadicea  at, 

— — -  possession  of,  41 


59 


I87 


Arrowroot,   180 
Asbestos,  75 

Australia  in  the  Pacific,   129 
Australian    Colonies,    confer- 
ence on  the  Pacific  Islands, 

133 
Austria,  emulation  of  Prussia, 

B 

BANANAS,  121,  161 
Beche-de-mer,  166 
Bechuanaland,  Boer  action, 

64 

,  Rhodes's  steps,  65 

Belgian  Congo,  87 
Bernhardi,  General  von,  on 

Germany's    "  place    in    th« 

sun,"  28 

,  views  on  Colonies,  22 

Beyers,    General,    defeat   and 

death,  82 

,  rebels,  81 

Birds,  162 

Bismarck,    Otto   von,    18,    19, 

21,   22,  20,   45,   57,   9*1    "i 
Boers,  the,  as  pioneers,  39 
,   in   South  West  Africa, 

,  Republics  in  Bechuana- 
land, 64 

,  view  of  Germans.  47 

Bonn,  Dr,  on  native  policy,  33 
Botha,  General  Louis,  70 

,  takes  field,  82 

British  policy  in  Africa,  41 

sea  supremacy,  28 

vacillation,  24>  53 


i88 


INDEX 


CAPE     COLONY,     danger     of 

being  shut  in,  50 
Caprivi  Treaty,  25,  66,  77,  83, 

94 

Carbonate  of  soda,   107 
Carnarvon,    Lord,    refuses    to 

annex  New  Guinea,  132 
Castor-oil,  180 
Cazou,   106 
Chillies,   106 
China  and  trade  treaties,  174 

—  and  the  Western  nations, 

172 

— ,  German  wedge  inserted 

into,   174 

,  the  "  mailed  fist,"   170 

,  war  with  Japan,   175 

Coal,  1 80 

Cocoa,   117,   121,   154,  166 

Coffee,  101,  1 02,  154,  1 66 

Congo  Free  State,  88 

Cook,   Captain,   128 

Copper,  75,  180 

Copra,  102,  120,  154,  162,  166 

Cotton,  101,  117,  120,  166 


DAMARALAND,  41 
Dar-es-Salaam,  0,5 

bombarded,  108 

De  Wet,  General,  defeat  and 

capture,  82 
— — ,  rebels,  81 
Diamonds,  75 
Dutch  in  Pacific,  127,  130 


ELLIOTT,  Major,  atops 
rebellion  in  South  Wtst 
Africa,  70 

Emdtn,  the,  184,  185 


FRANCE  in  the  East,  176,  177 

in  West  Africa,  109 

Frere,  Sir  Bartle,  42,  46,  53, 
go 


GALENA,  75,  180 
German       Colonial       Empire 
limits,  31 
-  Colonial  trade,  27 

-  Colonisation  Society,  20 
--  Confederation  of  1814,  17 

-  East  African  Society,  gi 
—  Emperor,  18 

--  Emperor,  letter  to  Lord 
Tweedmouth,  31 

-  industries,  26 

-  native  policy,  31 

-  naval  aspirations,  31 
Germans  and  natives,  34 

-  as  colonisers,  32 

-  in  America,  33 

-  in  Brazil,  33 

-  in  Cape  Colony,  33 
German    South    West   Africa, 

Germany  and  native  treaties, 
Qi 

-  annexes     South     West 
Africa,  62 

-  ,  aspirations  in  Rhodesia, 


,     aspirations     in     South 
Africa,  53 

at  Angra  Pequena,   56 
"  a  world  Power,"  28 

,  deprecatory  spirit,  31,  6  1 

,  emigration,  21 
enters  colonisation  field, 


2.3 


-,  false  conception  of  Boer 
character,  7g 

— ,  first  German  Colony,  44 
— ,  ideas  of  expansion,  26 

—  in  the  Pacific,  25,   124 

—  in  West  Africa,  no 


INDEX 


189 


Germany  in  Zanzibar,  24,  89 

,  native  policy,  70 

,  naval  demonstration  at 

Zanzibar,  92 

,  place  in  Moroccan 

affairs,  29 

,  population,  20 

,  secret  treaty  with  Russia 

qua  China,  178 

,  threat  to  Japan,  176,  185 

,  ultimatum  to  Japan,  176 

,  wireless  system  in 

Africa,  66 

Gold,  75,  107,  167,  180 

Grain,  101 

Granville,  Lord,  and  Bis- 
marck, 57,  1 1 1 

Great  Britain  in  Africa,  36 

Great  Namaqualand  and  Cape 
Colony,  6 1 

Guano,  74 

Gum-copal,  101 


H 

HELicpLAND,     exchange 

Zanzibar,  25,  92 
Hides,  73,  102 


IRON,  75,  1 80 
Ivory,  1 02,  154,  1 66 


for 


J 
German 


ultimatum, 


JAPAN, 

176 

,  her  claims  in  China,  175 

,  ultimatum  to  Germany, 

183 


KALAHARI  DESERT,  41 
Kamerun.    24     109,    113.    119. 
120,  122 


Kiau-Chau,  172,  178,  179,  180 

,  fall  of,  185 

,    Japan's    ultimatum    to 

Germany,  183 
Kiel,  1 8 
Kilima  'Njaro,  25,  88,  93 


LEAD,  75 

Lebaudy,  M.,  88 

Leopold,  King  of  the  Belgians, 

87 
Luderitz,     Herr,      at     Angra 

Pequena,  55 

,  at  Santa  Lucia,  64 

Luderitzbucht,  64,  82 


M 

MAGELLAN,  130 

"  Mailed  fist/'  the,  178 

Maize,  118 

Marble,  74 

Maritz,   General,   79 

Merriman,  John  X.,  54 

Mica,   107 

Mohair,  73 

Morocco,  29 

N 

NACHTIGAL,  Dr,  1 1 1 
Namaqualand,  Great,  41 
Natives,   German   exploitation 

of,  116 
New  Guinea,  25,   130,   166 

and  Queensland,  132 

New  Zealand  offers  to  protect 

Samoa,  144 


OIL,  167 


PACIFIC    ISLANDS,    124, 
'3'..  '33 


129, 


i  go 


INDEX 


Palm  keruelt,  1 17 

Palm-oil,    roa.    117,    iao.    154, 

163 

Pea-nuts,  106 
Penguin  eggs,  74 
Peters,  Dr  Carl,  go 
Phosphates,   156,  166 
Portugal,  36,  93,  IOQ,  124,  126 
Prussian  militarism,  17 
Pulse,   1 80 


QUEENSLAND       AND       NEW 
GUINEA,  132 

R 

RHODES,  CECIL,  19.  54 
Rhodesia,  German  efforts,  55 
Rubber,  73,  101,  102,  117,  154, 

1 66 
Russia  in  China,   174 


SAGO,  161 

Samoa,  131,  133,  136,  144,  150, 

154 
,  Calliope  and  hurricane, 

142 

,  German  annexation,  147 

,  the  British  occupy,  168 

Sandal-wood,    166 
Schleswig-Holstein.   18 
"  Scramble  for  Africa,"   24 
Seal  skins,  74 
Seddon,  Hon.  R.,  148 
Silk,  1 80 
Silver,  74 
Sisal  hemp,  101 
South  Africa,  34,  53 
Stanley,  H.  M.,  87 
Stevenson.  R.  L.,  149 
St  Lucia  Bay,  30 
Swakopmund,  82 


TANGIER,  German  Enap*r»r'i 
visit  to,  ag 

Tannin,   107 

Tasmania,   34 

Timber,  107,  115,   121.  167 

Tin,  75 

Tobacco,  i  54,  166 

Togoland,  66,  109,  112,  114, 
117 

Tortoise-shell,   166 

Transvaal,  German  aspira- 
tions, 30 

Treaty,  Anglo-German,  94 

Treitschke,  von,  and  "  Greater 
Germany,"  28 

Trepang,  166 

U 
UPINGTON,  Sir  Thomas,  54 

V 

VAN  DIEMEN,  130 
Von  der  Decken,  87 
Von  Weber,  Ernst.  45 
Von   Wissmann,    Captain   H., 
95 

W 

WALFISCH  BAV,  41 
Warren,  Sir  Charles,   54 
Warren  expedition,  54 
Wax,  1 80 

-,  bees',  101 

Wei-hai-wei,     Great    Britain's 

lease,  177 
Whales,  74 
Wheat,  1 80 

Wireless,  Togoland,  118 
Wool,  73 
"World  Power,"  29 


ZANZIBAR,  85,  90,  94,  96 


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